


My Former Life Is Now As A Thief!?

by Agimat_AltoSax713



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series, 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… - 山口悟 | My Next Life as a Villainess - Yamaguchi Satoru (Light Novels)
Genre: Bakarina is still baka, Gen, Katarina Claes' former identity has a real name, Other, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, just played Persona 5 Royal and watched Destruction Flag Otome, post kill them all ending in Fortune Lover, wanted to make a fanfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23853646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agimat_AltoSax713/pseuds/Agimat_AltoSax713
Summary: Katarina Claes reached the doom ending, that much was true. However, her soul wouldn't move on. She couldn't move on until her friends found a happy ending. And so, the soul moved onto a world much like her old world except with a few minute differences. One of those differences was the existence of a being called a Persona. Will Katarina still find a happy ending for her friends? Will her friends be able to find her? Will someone please get this girl at least some form of intelligence so that way she'll know that someone likes her?No one could answer these questions except herself. Except for the last one. Katarina probably wouldn't get that.
Comments: 57
Kudos: 116





	1. Life In Tokyo

This wasn't just a nightmare for Katarina as much as she wished it to be. This wasn't a nightmare for her at all. This was real. All of this was real.

Maybe, maybe if she just embraced her own bad end, her friends wouldn't be dead. Maybe if she just sat in the bench where Maria once was, she wouldn't be at this end.

Maybe, just maybe… She wouldn't be dying.

Someone… Someone had to survive. The heroine, Maria, her breath was shallow. Was she still alive?

"Maria…" Katarina could only muster out, "Maria, please… I'm…" Tears started to form in her eyes, "I'm sorry!"

"...Katarina… Thank you for being...my friend… I hope to see you...again in...the next life."

"Maria! Maria! No!" Katarina cried out as she felt her body failing her. Her hand was starting to feel slack. This wasn't just a Bad End, this was the worst end. Katarina's body fell on the floor, lifeless, unable to find the truth of this world. Katarina Claes was dead.

And yet, it wasn't the end of the soul within Katarina. The soul that was killed when she was 17-years old by a truck didn't want to leave to the sea of souls. No, she refused to leave. So, the soul found a newborn baby, similar to her first body. In fact, almost everything about her was the same. Except for one factor. This world was also where the souls of her friends would be. This, by itself, would be a simple factor.

But this world was a world graced with a ton of threats. Threats to humanity and yet these same threats were humanity's own creation.

And so, the soul of Katarina Claes would no longer be as a villainess, but rather, she would be a trickster of fate.

* * *

Mashiko Uchida was a deep sleeper. After all, her evenings were spent playing _Fortune Lover_ until she felt like she was in the need of sleep. So naturally, like her usual routine, her mother pulled the covers off of her.

"Mashiko! You're going to be late again!"

"Huh?" Mashiko looked at her mother groggily, "Wait, what?"

"Don't 'what' me! It's time for you to get to school! This is the start of your final year of high school! At least _try_ to make a good impression!" her mother shouted.

That wasn't good. That really wasn't good. Mashiko sped out of her house to get on the train, cucumber in her mouth. She couldn't be late to school again! If she could just make it to school in time, she could figure out how to beat Nichol's route!

"Saaaaafe!" Mashiko exclaimed as she entered the train station. She stood up and patted her uniform down. Tokyo attracted a plethora of strange people, it was the center of action in Japan after all. However, Tokyo was experiencing its fair share of weirdness the past two years.

"Whoa, so another mental shutdown happened?"

"Yeah!"

Mashiko overheard the two girls discussing the shutdown and she took it somewhat seriously. After all, these mental shutdowns were affecting big businesses and politicians, but thankfully nobody in her neck of the woods (that being video games, her friends, her grandma and her family). Besides, Mashiko was just a high school student in her final year, what could she do to stop these mental shutdowns?

She watched as people left the train, people went back on the train… It wasn't much of a surprise after all, this is Tokyo, Japan. Her eyes did spot a young man with glasses in a Shujin Academy uniform though. Was he late for school? Her question was answered when he didn't leave Aoyama-Itchome, the spot where Shujin Academy was located. Maybe he was transferring over.

That made more sense. She took a step out of the train and readied herself.

"Ready… GO!" Mashiko ran past the businessmen and various other people on her way to school. Everything was a blur. She made it! She-

"Well, well, well," she turned around to see the face of her arch-nemesis. He looked like a horse, acted like he was the king of the school.

"Kamoshida-sensei…" She muttered out as she looked at the man who constantly was in her way. She didn't have any personal problems with him, but he always sneered at her whenever she was late, which to be fair, was quite often.

"You're late again. Uchida-san, shouldn't you be making a better example for your kohais?"

Mashiko let out a soft chuckle, "Um… Sorry!"

"Talk about your repeat offenders," Kamoshida snorted out, shaking his head, "Don't push this school's reputation down the toilet."

"Again, sorry Kamoshida-sensei!" Mashiko ran back inside.

* * *

"Well then, look who's late again." Lunch time had begun and Mashiko was spending time with her best friend, Atsuko Sasaki, said with a smirk, "Spent all night playing _Fortune Lover?"_

"Hehe, yeah…" Mashiko looked at their muttering classmates and immediately frowned, "...Am I...really that bad of a senpai?"

"We are in our final year of classes… It's pretty crazy how you've been able to just barely coast by the school," Atsuko looked at Mashiko with a serious look on her face, "And let me guess, you were caught by Kamoshida-sensei?"

Mashiko put her head against the desk, "Don't remind me… I remember in our second-year that he said I was so athletic, I _could_ join the volleyball team, but I just couldn't! I had too much anime and manga to look through. Besides, I heard that one of the lower classmen got into a tussle with him!"

"Everyone does worship him," Atsuko said.

There was a small gap between their conversation, but the two of them could immediately hear what was going on.

"Uchida-san is always late… I heard that Kamoshida-sensei had to lambast her again… Seriously, how lazy is she?"

"I mean, at least she's not like Sasaki-san... Sasaki-san just looks so weird… Like a grandma..."

Atsuko touched her white hair with a saddened look on her face, but Mashiko smiled at her. She put a hand on Atsuko's hair.

"Remember what I said before? Your hair is beautiful and perfect… It's kinda like in that story we read awhile ago," Mashiko told her.

"..." Atsuko gave Mashiko a soft smile.

The two of them had been friends since middle school and all Mashiko could do was stare at Atsuko's white hair. It was unique in Japan after all. Mashiko remembered the words that she said to Atsuko.

"Your hair is beautiful," Mashiko muttered out nostalgically, "Oh yeah, _Fortune Lover_! I need help!"

"You girls play _Fortune Lover?_ " The two of them looked over to a demure blond girl. Both of them had heard of her, heck, she was in their class. This was none other than Maria Hikari and the school had immediately pegged her as a slut like her mother, a Japanese woman who apparently slept with a foreigner. Mashiko thought she was pretty cute though and, if she could be honest with herself, thought that those who pegged Maria as easy were just asking for trouble.

Atsuko nodded her head, "Yeah. You play it too? I just beat the game and-"

Maria shook her head, "No… My mom and I don't have enough money for it or a PlayStation 4…" She let out a sigh as she sat next to them.

"But I watched playthroughs online! Kinda spoiled myself on it, but I love the hidden-"

Mashiko covered her ears, "No spoilers! Please!"

The two other girls laughed at Mashiko's misfortune, something that she thought was unfair. Mashiko slammed the desk, looking at the two girls.

"How about the two of you help me then by coming over to my house tomorrow?"

Maria smiled at Mashiko, "Certainly Uchida-san!"

"Eh, why not? It'll be funny to watch you stumble all over the place," Atsuko said with a grin.

"...A-chan, you're so cruel…"

School had ended now. Mashiko had a spring in her step, Maria and Atsuko were going to come over to her house to play _Fortune Lover._ This was a definite win in her book.

"I get to go-"

"Uchida-san," Mashiko froze in the middle of her steps as she looked to the side. Crossing her arms, Makoto Nijima, the Student Council President, was near her. This wasn't good at all. Nijima was strict, focused and super scary. People said she was more akin to a robot and Mashiko believed her.

"Nijima-san! Uh, sorry for being late again!"

"This is your fourth time being late to school this year, Uchida-san. You better act correctly next time," she shook her head, "I...don't want you to get in more trouble with the faculty, alright?"

"Um… Yeah!" Mashiko nodded as she began walking off. Wow, that was a close call! Maybe after Monday, she should start trying to sleep a tad bit early! Hey, maybe on Sunday, she would be able to finish the game!

Her path took her to the train and a part of her was curious though as she boarded it. Why didn't the boy from earlier go off at the same stop? From his uniform, the boy was a second year at Shujin and was obviously a transfer student. But, a transfer student in the second year of high school didn't make a lick of sense.

Ah well, wasn't like he'd be super important.

* * *

A young man with blond hair, a young woman with brown hair and a young man with grey hair sat down at a cafe booth, the three of them having ordered the usual.

"Kind of a surprise," the old man with glasses said, looking at them, "Kids don't tend to come over to my cafe."

"Our apologies, um…" the blond haired man was at loss for words. This man didn't seem to have a name tag and he doubted his name was LeBlanc. Unless it was, but that was rather rude.

"I'm Sojiro Sakura, but call me 'Boss,'" Sojiro offered as he returned to the counter, smoking a cigarette.

The blond nodded as he returned to his friend and brother, "...I'm...happy to see at least one person from our old life, Mary."

"I'm happy to see you two as well, Gerod, Alan," Mary smiled at the two of them. She looked back down though, "Did you...happen to-"

Alan shook his head, "Unfortunately, no. Nichol, Sophia, Maria, Keith and...Katarina are still unable to be found in this world."

Alan scowled at that point. It was easy to find his brother, Gerod. After all, the two of them were brothers in this world as well. Things were about to start the same as well. Alan would be skipped over in favor of Gerod and he would be forced to find some way, any way to win. But that wasn't the case thankfully.

It was a chance moment. They were at Shibuya when an ad for _Fortune Lover_ played overhead. Their cognition changed at that point, Alan, Gerod and Mary were all in one location and stared at each other in shock. So naturally, the three of them were grateful to see each other again, but the gratefulness turned to worry as they realized that they were the only ones who knew each other in that crowd of people.

"So, we were once from a world like a video game and now we're in this world...with well…" Gerod scowled. The mental shutdown cases were a major worry, whoever was behind it could cause more problems. In fact, if one man ended up having a mental shutdown or just lost all control of their body. Did that mean dark magic was in place here?

"We're assuming this world is like our own world," Alan told his twin brother, "Though, without magic and more...advanced?" He looked over to the television. Thankfully, they still had the memories of their selves in this world as well. So, a television wasn't much of a shock to the three of them. He looked back at his conversation partners.

"And yet, the mental shutdown cases have been happening," Gerod retorted back, "It could be...whoever Katarina is in this world ended up as a victim."

"We need leads," Mary said, "I know that Katarina complimented my gardening skills when we were younger, but in a city like this…" The corner cafe, LeBlanc, was a quiet location in the bustling city that was Tokyo, but to find Katarina was one-in-a-million.

"Especially since we can't just go looking for any girl who is climbing trees," Gerod groaned, "Well, we just need to find her...and then…" He looked at his conversation partners, giving them a glare. A glare that was returned back.

None of them would lose. Not this time.

* * *

It was Sunday! It was Sunday! For once, Mashiko woke up rather early. Sure beating _Fortune Lover_ would take a lot of work, but Mashiko was ready to go for it. Her eyes lit up, she readied herself. Today was the day, if she couldn't beat it, then Atsuko and Maria would help her out.

It had been a few hours when Atsuko and Maria came into the house. Mashiko's hands were on the controller, her hands ready and primed for action. Already, she was back at the part of Nichol's route. She'd avoid the bad ending and Katarina would be safe from getting killed by Gerod!

Wait, where did that thought come from? She was Nichol's route. For all intents and purposes, Maria's love rival was Sophia, his sister. That was a bit weird though, the simple idea of sister and brother dating each other. Katarina had gotten her well-deserved fate when she beat Gerod and Keith's routes. Though, for some reason, she always felt bad for Katarina. She didn't deserve to die, especially when her character was so plain. Maybe if Katarina did something that was kind to the main heroine, but nope. Katarina was the villainess, one with no real character.

"Maybe if she took up gardening, she'd be more relatable!" Mashiko exclaimed to her friend.

"But isn't that Mary's thing?" Atsuko asked.

"I'll be honest, I pity Katarina…" Maria admitted, "She has no real powers over magic and her whole story arc is based around bullying Maria… It's a shame."

"Yeah! Come on game developers! Give Katarina more to do in the sequel!" Mashiko exclaimed, "Otherwise, what's the point of bringing her in except for us to expect some type of villain!"

Atsuko frowned, "Sophia though… Her love for her brother is weird, but I can...understand why she feels a certain way…" She stared at her white hair when her phone rang, "Huh? One second Mashiko!" Atsuko stepped out of the doorway, leaving Mashiko and Maria alone.

"Hm… How about after this, we try to go on the secret route?" Maria asked Mashiko, "Happy end _or_ bad end!"

"What's on the secret route though? Who's the love interest there?" Mashiko asked, "...Wait, is there a _yuri_ option?"

Maria laughed at Mashiko's insulation, "No, no. Just keep an eye on the Student Council President… Speaking of Student Council Presidents, Makato-san was really grilling you the other day."

"Hehe, yeah… Wait, you call Nijima-san, Makato?" Mashiko looked over to Maria, "Why are you…"

"Oh! I'm actually on the Student Council as well! Well, I'm not as important as the president though. Even then, I still hear the rumors about me…" Maria sighed, her hand on her chest, "...I know that my mom slept with a foreigner and I'm from wedlock, but… My mom loves me, she cares for me, she treats me well every day…"

Mashiko smiled, "I don't think those rumors are true anyways. Besides, if I wanted to listen to rumors, I would be totally frustrated with everyone talking about how lazy I've been!"

Maria laughed a bit, "Probably because you've been playing those games constantly, huh?" She smiled as Mashiko, a hint of a blush appearing on Maria's face. A blush that Mashiko didn't really take stock in.

"Okay, we are-"

Atsuko came back in, her face suddenly grim, "Mashiko, can you ask your mom if Maria and I could stay a bit longer? She...probably knows about it, but… My brother told me that there was a subway accident."

Mashiko's eyes widened, "Seriously? I thought we had all those things and stuff like that just in case of emergencies! Like if the subway derailed."

Atsuko nodded, "Me too, but it looks like…" Atsuko sat on the chair and sighed, "I'm sorry, this is...pretty weird news to suddenly happen. So because of that, I think my parents are going to pick me up then." She pointed at the television

"Well, if anything, it'll be fine! Maybe we'll have extra time to play through _Fortune Lover!"_ Mashiko happily looked at Atsuko and Maria.

Atsuko and Maria gave Mashiko a soft smile. Mashiko often had a one-track mind and naturally, this would cause a few more problems down the road. However, in this one moment, it was okay. Mashiko had a positive attitude about this situation. Even as the day got late, even as they completed Nichol's route, even as Maria and Atsuko guided Mashiko the way to the secret route? Things were probably going to be okay.

* * *

Things were not okay for Mashiko.

Things were definitely not okay for her. For once in her life, Mashiko woke up early enough to get to school at a good time. This was the time where Kamoshida wouldn't rag on her for not showing up to school early. But of course, it had to rain.

Of course, she had to find a way to figure out how to get to school dry when she saw that boy from Saturday.

And of course, she had to figure out how to settle a situation between the troublemaker of the second-years Ryuji Sakamoto and the new transfer student.

"It's whatever Uchida-senpai. I just thought that he was going to rat me out to Kamoshida," the blond-dyed boy said to Mashiko, "You though, you probably wouldn't rat me out. You hate Kamoshida as much as I do."

"I don't hate Kamoshida-sensei! He just always rags on me!" Mashiko exclaimed.

"Exactly! He does whatever the hell he wants! Who does he think he is - the king of a castle? Don't you agree with me senpai? You?" Ryuji looked over to the transfer student and Mashiko.

"Um, well… I just want to go to school," Mashiko admitted.

"The king of a castle?" the transfer student asked Ryuji.

Ryuji groaned, "Unchida-senpai knows what I mean, but…" He looked at the transfer student, "You don't know Kamoshida? Are you for real?"

Mashiko's eyes widened, "Oh! You're the boy from earlier! You're the transfer student to Shujin, right?"

The transfer student nodded with a smile, "...Guilty as charged. I'm supposed to be a second-year." He looked over to Ryuji and Mashiko.

"Uchida-senpai and I kinda have a problem with him," Ryuji told the transfer student, "Though, in Uchida-senpai's case, it's actually well-warranted...considering she's always late."

"You… You… You dye your hair!" Mashiko retorted. That definitely sounded better in her head. That wasn't even an insult! Everyone knew that Ryuji dyed his hair ever since the incident. She looked at everyone else, "Sorry…"

"Nah, it's fine… Still…" Ryuji looked at the sky, "Well, the rain ain't too bad. We better hurry up, or we'll be late. Don't think Uchida-senpai wants to get into more trouble."

"Yeah! I don't!" Mashiko admitted before feeling a strange headache. She caught her head. Maybe for the sake of her own sanity, she should go home. Play some more video games. Being a NEET was seeming to be a nicer and nicer option.

"Well, since you're the third-year, you should lead us," the transfer student looked at Mashiko with a small smile on his face.

"Um… Sure! Um…" Mashiko looked at the transfer student, "What's your name again?"

"I'm Ren Amamiya," Ren told her.

"Ren Amamiya… Ren…" Mashiko said his name repeatedly, trying to figure it out. It was a nice name to be perfectly frank. Plus, Ren and her would probably have a decent enough rapport.

"Hey! Hurry up or we're gonna be late!" Ryuji shouted from ahead of them.

As the three of them crossed the corner, neither of them realized what was happening until they had finally reached the school. Well, it was supposed to be a school at the very least. For all intents and purposes, this wasn't a school.

"...Uchida-senpai, this isn't Shujin Academy," Ryuji said.

Mashiko blinked before pointing at the sign that said _Shujin Academy_ , "But… But…" She pointed back at the castle.

"...How is this...happening?"


	2. Remembering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone for having read the first chapter on this fanfiction. I am honestly really excited to be writing something that, in most cases, comes off as more of a weird silly idea. However, as this does have Persona 5 elements in them, there will be moments where Mashiko will realize exactly what's going on. I also wanted to include some minor angst for her in this chapter. After all, if you ended up dying in one world and you remembered that, it would definitely scar you, even if you are Bakarina.

The school had become a castle, something that Mashiko was really not expecting. She looked at the sign that said _Shujin Academy_ and then at the castle. This process would go on for a few minutes, mostly because Mashiko was still under much confusion. After all, if most humans, even ones as foolish as Mashiko, were to see the school suddenly become a castle, they would logically ask questions. Finally, after a few minutes, she stared directly at the castle.

“I don’t get any of this,” Mashiko finally let out.

“You and me both Uchida-senpai, this _is_ the school. Or at least I think it is,” Ryuji reasoned out.

“Why don’t we go inside?” Ren told the two of them, a serious look on his face, “We can probably get more information that way, right?”

“But it’s a castle where our school should be!” Mashiko exclaimed, “This doesn’t make any sense. Well, we’re here early at least? Oh! Maybe it’s a prank!” The image of Atsuko teasing Mashiko about honestly thinking the school as a castle came to Mashiko’s mind. It calmed her down a bit as she happily walked into the castle-turned-school.

“Hey wait up!” Ryuji exclaimed.

Ren looked at the castle and frowned. He had been to the school the previous day to meet with the fat principal. Logically speaking, there was no way that the school would suddenly become a castle. If so, then something had changed between yesterday and today. Could this be related to his dream within that blue prison cell?

It all confused him. His life was supposed to be him keeping his head down, away from trouble. Though, could Ren do that?

“Come on! Uchida-senpai ran ahead of us!” Ryuji exclaimed.

No. The time for thinking had to take place at another time. This strange castle needed to be investigated, first and foremost. He joined them in the entrance of the castle and stared.

“Th-That’s weird... Where’s the school?” Ryuji immediately asked.

Mashiko crossed her arms, “Hm... I have an idea! Maybe it’s a school play or a prank!” Mashiko didn’t really understand any of this. In fact, all she wanted to do was get to school in time. Wait a moment, she was _technically_ at school already, wasn’t she? So logically, she made it to school in time. She pumped her fist in triumph, much to the confusion of her underclassmen. Though, she didn’t recall the school putting up a portrait of Kamoshida looking all heroic and stuff up. Maybe it part of the prank?

“Is this our school?” Ren finally piped up in a rather quiet, pondering manner. He was still wondering exactly why this whole thing was happening. Maybe, just maybe Ren was just seeing things. Seeing a world that logically speaking, never existed.

“It...should be,” Ryuji spoke up. He looked over to Ren and Mashiko, confusion still on his face. Unlike both Ren, who was unfamiliar with Tokyo, and Mashiko, who from what he understood that everyone was saying about her, was more of a foolish girl who was always tardy and late to class, Ryuji had been to the school. He started going here, he started to run track and field in his first year and then he-

There was a flash of anger in Ryuji’s eyes. The desire for justice temporarily overwhelmed him, but it easily went down in favor of slight more confusion. He had to help the transfer out after all. Maybe if he were to check on the GPS... Ryuji took out his phone and stared at it in shock, “Out of service? Where’d we end up?”

“The sign was for the school, right?”

Ren nodded, “Yeah. Though, it’s more confusing than anything else...” He admitted to both Mashiko and Ryuji. Another thought brushed his head. Maybe it would be better to just leave, to go somewhere and put his head down. If he were to get into trouble, then that would mean worse for his probabtionary period.

Mashiko stared at the picture of Kamoshida as a brush of annoyance took over her. Since when did the art club take the time to do this? Did everyone in the school praise Kamoshida? She knew the teachers did. She knew the principals praised him. Everyone except for a few of the students in fact. So, why was the castle-turned-school praising Kamoshida.

Their thought processes were brushed off when they noticed an armored knight approach the three of them. Mashiko noticed it first and immediately, her mind went into greeting them with a curtsey. Wait, a curtsey? Why? She knew she had to be polite to any knights that came to her parent’s house? Wait a moment, she never lived in medival times!

“Geez, you freaked me out!” Ryuji exclaimed as he approached the knight, still in the belief that whoever this person was? He was a student of the school. Things kinda clicked into place for Ryuji, the school drama club set something up rather quickly. Was it for some nerdy tabletop game and everyone in the school were actors?

“Who’re you? A student. Man, your costume is impressive, is that armor real?”

No response.

Ren became more alert. Something was happening. This wasn’t the school, wherever the three of them had ended up. They weren’t at the school anymore.

“C’mon, don’t just stand there. Say something!”

Another knight started to approach the trio. Ren, Ryuji and Mashiko all started to take steps backwards. Each of them were starting to figure out exactly what was going on and how to escape it. Ren couldn’t do much. Maybe he can’t do much. He had to keep his head down, but even then, they were in trouble. If he could just face these people head-on, tell them off.

But he had no weapons. He had nothing. Ren looked at the knights with a serious look on his face, “...What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Ryuji admitted as the knights drew closer. His eyes widened. Were they going to die here?

“...This shit’s real.”

“Ah, no way!” Mashiko exclaimed as she smiled at the soldiers, “We can talk this out, right? We just... Um... I’m sorry for being late to class all this time! If this is a prank A-chan, this really _really_ isn’t funny!” Mashiko immediately exclaimed in a panic.

Ryuji stared at his leg, hesitating for a bit. He was a star track runner of the school. Well, Ryuji was at the various least. But maybe, just maybe he could do something about that.

“We gotta run!”

Both Ren and Mashiko nodded. Ren, mostly out of self-preservation, but Mashiko had a flash of a memory. She had to avoid these Bad Ends. She was given- Wait, why was she thinking these things again? Her own mind was messing around with her. Memories of a time before all of these things happened started to fill her head. She hadn’t been to castles before, but she recognized what a royal was.

“...Fortune Lover?” Mashiko finally muttered out.

“Come on!”

However, there was no escape. Soldiers started to surround all three of them. Panic started to set into all three of them. They first started with Ryuji, immediately bashing him in the back with a shield. He screamed in pain. Everyone’s eyes widened.

This was serious.

But there was no time to focus, no time to concentrate on finding a way out. The soldiers started to pile on them, hitting them with their shields.

Mashiko’s eyes widened as a shield ran straight toward her forehead. Odd memories started to flow. The only thought on her mind?

_“How oddly familiar.”_

* * *

There was blood everywhere. That’s odd. Why was there blood? Wasn’t she last in a castle? No, she has running late to school. She had to run. Wait, didn’t she go to school in Tokyo? There were chances of a truck running down a street to hit her?

Wait, her hand. Was that her hand? She could barely lift it up.

She couldn’t breathe. Blood was filling her lungs.

Mashiko’s eyes widened as she started to recall why she was here. She was dead.

* * *

Mashiko awoke with a start, sweat dropping down her forehead. The two occupants of the cell were Ryuji, the trouble maker and Ren, the new transfer student. She put a head on her forehead as she recalled the dream she had.

She died in a car accident.

However, she was in a generic car accident at the time. That was all.So why was Mashiko suddenly in a castle? Was it all just a dream? It must have been. She gripped her head, “...Who...am...I?”

“Oh good, you’re awake too,” Ren looked over to the slumped form of Mashiko, a concerned look on his face, “What exactly were you crying about? Did someone hurt you?” They were in a prison cell now after all, there was honestly no reason for Ren to keep quiet to himself anymore. Damn the consequences.

“...” Mashiko didn’t respond. How could she respond? _‘Oh yeah, apparently, I died in a traffic accident.’_ That made the complete opposite of sense. Even worse, her head was splitting from an awful headache she’d been having.

“Look like this ain’t no dream, huh?” Ryuji said.

Of course this wasn’t a dream. Unless, of course, Mashiko dying on the pavement was reality. Fear started to take a hold of her. How could she possibly end up beating _Fortune Lover_ at this rate? Her focus on her grisly death started to overwhelm her. Throughout her life, she was always a positive girl, always excited and looking at the bright side of life. Hell, whenever her family visited their grandmother, God rest her soul, Mashiko would either help her grandmother with gardening or climb a tree. Great, now she missed her grandmother as well.

Ryuji had to take a stand for once. He ran toward the prison bars and started to shake them, “Hey, let us outta here! I know there’s someone out there!”

“...” Ren looked over to Mashiko and sat down with her, his presence being an odd comfort in this time of crisis.

“I’m Mashiko, I’m Mashiko... I’m Mashiko...”

Ryuji kept pacing back and forth, “What is this? Some kinda movie set? A prank television show? We gonna get punked?”

“...I don’t think so,” Ren started to say as he looked at Ryuji, “Those knights seemed to be the real deal.”

That was when they heard screams.

“...That sounds like it’s the real deal as well,” Ren flatly said.

Mashiko and Ryuji’s eyes widened, both of them shocked and scared for their own personal reasons. Mashiko was finally out of her trance. Wherever who she was, it wasn’t important. The reality was? Those screams meant torture or even murder. Like any good person, it would be best to _avoid_ getting murdered. Maybe the dream was a prophetic dream, something where if she didn’t take certain steps, she _would_ be killed.

Ryuji was more scared out of his own wits. Those screams sounded like someone was being torture. Panic started to overwhelm him as he ran to the jail cell bars, “What the hell was that just now?”

 _“Help me! Help me!”_ Distant voices echoed out from near their location.

As Ryuji panicked, Ren felt a stir of anger within his soul. Whoever was behind this damn situation, they desereved to pay. It was clearly obvious that someone was lording over this castle and stuck them into a prison cell. He could feel a desire to rebel against this damned world. _Why should he keep his head down anymore?_

“There’s gotta be a way outta here!” Ryuji exclaimed as he began to look around the prison. However, there was none. No way to escape.

Mashiko gripped the bars, looked around the prison cell. There was no window for her to climb through, time wasn’t on their side so she couldn’t just pull something out and try to get the attention of someone else.

Nothing. She was useless. Of course, she was useless. She was... No, she wasn’t going to be useless. In an almost manic fashion, Mashiko ran toward the bars.

“Make way!” Mashiko exclaimed.

“Wait, Uchida-senpai, what are you- Whoa!”

Mashiko tackled the bars, but nothing came from it. However, she wouldn’t let up. Fear started to swell up in her, fear, anger and a bit of stupidity.

“...She does know that it won’t work right?” Ren muttered to Ryuji.

“Uchida-senpai has always been weird... Everyone at school talks about her.”

That was when they heard the stomping of knights. Mashiko tackled the bars again, but one of the weird knight tackled the jail bars.

“Quiet you!”

Mashiko fell to the floor, her hands shaking. She bruised her shoulder doing this reckless stunt, but even then? She had to try _something._ She gave a look of quiet frustration at the knights, one of great intensity.

If the knight was scared, they didn’t show it.

“Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon. Your charge is ‘unlawful entry.’ Thus, the two of you,” the knight pointed at Ryuji and Ren, “Will be sentenced to death.” They then looked at Mashiko.

“However, our king wishes for us to bathe you and bring you to his chambers.”

“...What?” Mashiko tilted her head in confusion, “Wait, I’m getting a bath and these guys are getting death! That’s insane!”

“Uh... Uchida-senpai, do you know what he means?” Ryuji scratched the back of his head.

Mashiko shook her head.

Ren scowled, knowing _exactly_ what the king wanted for Mashiko. He stood in front of Mashiko, “...Whoever this king is, he will _not_ lay a finger on her.”

Mashiko blinked, “Yeah! It’s totally unfair that I get to take a shower and these guys die!”

“Heh. I always liked the spirit of your’s Uchida-san,” a familiar voice to all three of them started to speak. A figure started to approach them, “Still, no one’s allowed to do as they please in my castle. It’s only natural that I punish those who break the law.” The knights gave way to the figure, one that was very familiar to the two of them.

“Huh? Wait... Is that you, Kamoshida?” Ryuji said in shock. Kamoshida looked nothing like he did in the past. It was almost like he was wearing absoultely nothing except for a cape, pink briefs, and a king’s crown. His eyes were even weirder.

They were shining yellow.

Mashiko stood up, “Kamoshida-sensei, you’re...”

Ren looked at Ryuji and Mashiko, “Who’s Kamoshida?”

“Well-”

“I thought it was just some petty thieves, but to think that they were Uchida and Sakamoto. Still, I’ll be a _slight_ bit leniet on your deaths. It’ll be fine after all...” Kamoshida faced Ryuji and Ren, “After all, you did deliever me a girl I’ve my eyes on ever since she kept getting late to class.”

Mashiko blinked, “...Wait, what do you mean?”

Kamoshida chuckled darkly, “Trust me Mashiko, you _will_ know what I mean soon. Guards, take her to the baths!”

“Uchida-senpai!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“Wait, no! I can’t leave them behind! They don’t deserve _death!”_ Mashiko exclaimed as the knights ran into the room and grabbed Mashiko.

Both Ren and Ryuji tried to fight them off, but it was of no use. They quickly overpowered the two of them. The knights dragging Mashiko kept on walking away. She kept screaming, never thinking about her own potential worries, but of her underclassmen. No, her new friends.

“It can’t be...”

Kamoshida, Ryuji, and Ren were all just distant figures at this point. The knights kept dragging her farther away from her companions.

“No...” Mashiko muttered out, “I can’t. I won’t let them die! I already failed my friends once in one world! I won’t let them die again! I’ll survive and I’ll make sure they survive as well!”

She held a large headache start to form as memories quickly flowed their way back to her brain. Memories of a young girl hitting her head against the pavement and getting a head wound from it. Memories of a young girl enjoying gardening. Memories of a young girl climbing trees. Memories of a girl going out of her way to make friends to everyone she met. Memories of the same girl, now older, trying to avoid her potential death flags. Yes, now she remembered. She wasn’t afraid anymore.

Mashiko, no. _Katarina Claes_ remembered everything. Her past two lives. Her first life as Mashiko Uchida, otaku of otome and her next life as Katarina Claes, the royal daughter of Duke Claes and practitioner of Earth magic. 

She began to thrash around and around as the soldiers tried to keep her still. The soldiers couldn’t damage her after all, the king wanted Mashiko for himself.

Their arrival was sudden and quick, Mashiko didn’t even notice them over her overwhelming headache.

“There’s Uchida-senpai!” Ryuji exclaimed, “C’mon dude! You gotta do something!” Somehow, Ren had awakened to some new power. He could feel the burning will of rebellion flow within him. Now, Ren was willing to perform all sorts of sacrilegious acts for his own justice and said justice also was “trying to save Mashiko from getting raped by Kamoshida.”

Ren took a step forward before his eyes widened. Wind started to blow from where Mashiko was standing. A smirk appeared on his lips.

“Dude, you gotta-”

Ren looked back at Ryuji, “Don’t worry, I think she’s got this.”

The wind began to push the soldiers down on the ground, who all collectively stared at Mashiko in shock. She collapsed onto the ground, each and every memory of her former life coming back to her. She held her hand on her head as she kept on screaming.

“ **So** **you** **finally** **remember who you once were?”** A voice rang out from within Mashiko.

Gerod, Keith, Mary, Alan, Sophia, Nichol… Maria. Her experiences with them and her actions to avoid the Doom Ending was something that she deeply knew to be a fact, not a falsehood. Yes, they were not just dreams where she thought herself to be within the world of Fortune Lover.

She herself had lived within that world. More importantly, she remembered their deaths.

“...You’re right… I remember everything now...and I need to find them.” 

“ **So, you had figured it out then. And now** **you must** **bury your enemies to the ground to find your friends from the other world. I am thou, thou art I. Now then, show** **these** **wannabe villain** **s** **what a true villainess is!”**

Mashiko felt a mask form on her head. She had to get it off. No, she needed to get it off. She gripped the white masquerade mask tightly and ripped it off. Blood started to pour from her face as blue flames roared around her.

“Whoa! It’s just like...” Ryuji muttered out.

Ren had a vicious grin on his face as he pointed at Mashiko, “You’ve got this Mashiko!”

As the flames faded, Mashiko was clad in a fancy blue dress corset on the top, one that would be the standard for the noble class. Meanwhile, her gown was rather simple, easy to move around. Especially since it was always so restraining in her previous life! If she was going to climb some tree, she would need proper gear! Her hair, which was formerly messy and unstable, was now brushed to perfection, just like Anne once did. She took a step forward, a wild grin on her face. She pointed directly at the Knights, who had quickly turned into what appeared to be a strange Jack O’Lantern creature and a fairy, with her white ballroom gloves, a shovel held wildly in her grip.

A feminine figure was in the background, clad in a brilliant blue color. Her face was a brillaint grey and her eyes were shining blue. They looked down at the Knights. She held what appeared to be a spear of sorts and was pointing it down at the ceatures, who backed away in fright.

Ren ran up to her, now clad in a black trenchcoat, red gloves, and a black and white mask. He looked over to the royal figure and spoke, “Mashiko. You ready for this?” He pulled out a knife.

“This power... It’s amazing! I never felt like this before in my life! Even when I was climbing trees all over the place in my family’s manor! Even when I was gardening in the fields of my manor! Now then, I shall begin the steps to avoid the Destruction End in this world as well! Let’s go all out! Nancy!”

She gave the shadows a villainous grin, one especially befitting that of a villainess! Yes, that is who she was. The villainess of an otome game who tortured the main character, but she would go out of her way to solve the problems of this world and the next!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Nancy**  
>  A character for the novel Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist, she is a thief who ends up befriending the titular character. Despite her identity as a thief and a villainess, she attempted to help Oliver leave the criminal world he found himself in.
> 
> _Res: Earth_  
>  _Weakness: Psychic_


	3. Escape From Palace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly proud of this chapter. Fight scenes aren't exactly my forte and oh look at that, we had to start with one. 
> 
> Woooo... Anyways, this chapter is pretty necessary because "hey, Katarina has _Persona_ now. We gotta do something with that!" And then I had to deal with in-game text over and over and over again. Hope you all enjoy this chapter nonetheless. ~~And yes, Mashiko/Katarina will have another member of the harem in this chapter. It'll be a bit more obvious, but well...~~.

Atsuko looked at the teacher and then Mashiko's desk. She was worried, incredibly worried about her best friend. Mashiko has been late to school before, ten minutes after class started was her usual, but this was different. She missed almost the whole day. Atsuko couldn't concentrate, she couldn't focus. Her mind kept thinking asking the question of “what if Mashiko died again?” Wait, again? What were these strange feelings in her mind? She shook them off.

Mashiko was there for her when no one else would be. Mashiko helped her at that party that she- Atsuko paused again. A party? Atsuko didn't meet her best friend at a party; they met when they were in middle school. Mashiko complimented her hair and beautiful body. Yes, that's right. Atsuko gripped her head, thinking again. Why did it feel so familiar that was how they had met? 

“...I hope you’re okay.”

* * *

Mashiko had never felt so free in her life! The mask covering her face, restraining her old memories of a past life once forgotten was _gone!_ Mashiko’s villainous glare stared directly at the creatures before her! However, the fairy simply giggled in response as it summoned lightning. Mashiko twirled around, dodging the fairy’s attack with grace as she ran toward the fairy, bonking it on the head with her shovel. The fairy was pushed away for a bit—evidently despite its fragile form, it could at least take on a direct hit from a shovel.

“Hey, Uchida-senpai, look out!” Ryuji exclaimed.

Mashiko turned around as the pumpkin-headed creature glided toward her. With a call of a “Hee-ho!”, it almost hit her with its lantern, Mashiko braced herself for the impact, but it never came. She could hear the voice of Ren calling out as a picarsque creature with wings and a top hat floated nearby her. With its sharp claws, it formed a dark ball within its left, one directed at the pumpkin-headed creature.

“Arsene! Eiha!”

The dark cursed ball fired at the pumpkin-headed creature as it stumbled from the attack. With that opportunity, Mashiko found herself able to figure out a better position for herself. She spread her hand out, pointing directly at the pumpkin-head. Nancy, in her blue and simplistic farm-hand glory, appeared behind Mashiko. Now that she got a better look at her other self, Mashiko could recognize somewhat blue tattered clothing befitting one of common birth, or even someone who preferred to go out of their way to farm, much like her. However, she still kept her presence tall, glorious despite the lack of splendor. With the pumpkin creature knocked down, Mashiko took her chance to attack.

“Nancy! Magna!”

Both Nancy and Mashiko raised their arms up as a rock fell from somewhere, Mashiko supposed it was the ceiling, to crush the monster. Mashiko turned around to finish off the fairy, but Ren had stabbed it through with a knife, turning it into nothingness.

“Huh,” Mashiko finally blinked as she felt her other self, while still within her, disappear from the battlefield. She looked at her clothes once more, now having come down from her furious battle high.

“Whoa! This is just like my old outfit!” Mashiko finally said.

“Old...outfit?” Ryuji asked as both he and Ren, who had turned back to his school uniform after the fight, “Uchida-senpai, what are you talking about?”

“Oh, well! You see!” Mashiko started to speak before Ren interrupted her.

“Actually, we should focus on getting out of here,” Ren told the two of them, “We can talk some more later.” He did look over Mashiko’s strange new outfit however.

“Though… I haven’t been able keep that outfit on yet…” Ren muttered to himself as the three of them continued their escape. Ren was all sorts of confused at the moment, but kept it hidden underneath a cocky assurance. He recalled hearing a voice deep within him to punish these creatures and to put them down, the fact that he could summon something that he could not truly understand and the simple fact that he knew his other self’s name: Arsene. Maybe he’d get these answers soon, maybe he’d get them later.

They had to escape this dungeon. Three of them kept running, both Ren and Mashiko ahead of him.

Ryuji watched as both Ren, who he didn’t know that well, and Mashiko, who he _knew_ was an otaku, go in front of him. A brush of anger formed from deep within Ryuji, but it wasn’t at either of Ren or Mashiko. They didn’t know what happened. He could feel his bad knee acting up as he ran with them to escape.

“Wait guys! Look!” Ryuji called out.

Mashiko turned and gasped in shock at the sight before her. She could barely make out the features of the imprisoned, barely about recall who they were. All Mashiko knew was that they might have been in volleyball team, but she never focused on that. Still, if they were here, did that mean-

“We really did hear people screaming… So we ain’t the only ones who got captured!” Ryuji exclaimed before watching Mashiko starting to make a running leap toward the cages.

“Mashiko!”

Mashiko could hear Ren’s calls as he grabbed her. She looked at Ren in shock, “Amamiya-san!?”

“We can’t do anything right now,” Ren told her as he shook his head, “We need to focus on getting out of here and then we’ll get help.”

“But…” Mashiko looked at the prisoners and called out to them, “I can save them! Back in my mansion, I was always climbing trees!”

“...Since when did you live in a mansion?” Ryuji asked in confusion.

“Wha! I mean-” Mashiko shook her head as she looked at the prisoners. She could feel her heart ache just _looking_ at these people. In all of her lives, she never really had a chance to be in a situation like this. In a sense, Mashiko was just _lucky_ to have even be able be free to do whatever she wanted.

However, these people weren’t allowed to do anything. They weren’t free.

Ren could sense Mashiko’s current mood as he put a hand on her. He gave her a slight smile, “We’ll save them as soon as we can. Right now, our main focus is escaping.”

Mashiko nodded, “Right…”

“Hey! Over here! Blondie! Frizzy Hair! Bluey! Look over here!”

All of them turned to the source of the voice and suddenly, Mashiko’s thoughts about freeing these people from their current condition was squashed a slight bit. Only a slight bit of course, she wanted to free them as soon as she could, but when she saw the call and the whimpering of the creature there? Her heart melted into pure joy.

“He’s so cute!”

The two other boys looked at the furry anthropomorphic cat with a scarf, helplessly shaking the bars of the jail cell with a pleading look in its eyes. To say the least, the boys were incredibly confused by their current circumstances. None of them knew what kind of creature this thing was or even where it came from. Yet, this didn't matter to Mashiko, not at all. This kitty mascot was adorable! Besides, she liked cats better than dogs by a long shot. Dogs chased her around in all of her lives, including this one! 

"Cute? That's a bit flattering milady!" the creature said, "Anyways, you guys don't look like soldiers to this castle! Can you please get me out of here!?"

"Sure thing!" Mashiko said. 

"Wait a moment Uchida-senpai," Ryuji started to say, "I know that you automatically think that he's cute, like most girls would, but we're trying to get out. Besides, he could be an enemy for all we know!"

Ren stared at the creature before shaking his head, "I don't think so." He adjusted his glasses as he turned to look at both Ryuji and Mashiko, who were looking at the creature with suspicion and adoration, respectively. He continued to speak, "If he was an enemy, he wouldn't be locked up, isn't right… Um… Cat?"

"You might be right frizzy hair, but I'm _not_ a cat!" the creature defiantly said, “Heck, I’ll even sweeten the deal on this! Help me out of here and I’ll lead you to the exist of this castle! Does that things a bit better?"

Ren looked at Mashiko, nodding at her. Mashiko, with cheer and glee shining in her eyes, grabbed the keys from the side. With a swift jiggle of the keys, the cell door opened as the strange creature walked its way outside. Stretching with a look of contentment in its eyes, it again spoke.

“Ahhhh… Freedom tastes so great…”

Things changed when Mashiko picked him up, looking him over curiously. The creature, completely shocked by this arvant-garde display, started to move around frantically. It took Ryuji all that he could to not laugh at this creature’s predicament. Well, he clearly wasn’t an enemy, but hey, Mashiko

“Hey! Hey! Put me down!”

“...Does this cat have a speaker or something…” Mashiko asked herself before hugging it, “Oh well! He’s cute.”

“For starters, I’m _not_ a cat!” the cat groaned, “I mean, you are a lady, so I shouldn’t be shouting at you, but picking me up off the ground doesn’t- Oh wow, this is comfortable…”

The cat-like creature snuggled deeper into Mashiko’s bodice, meowing much like a cat. A rather shameful display to be perfectly frank. After all, the cat had always seen himself as a perfect gentleman and here he was, meowing and acting much how a cat would. Though, who could blame him? This girl was _really_ pretty.

“Thank you Kitty-chan!” Mashiko happily said.

Ryuji stopped his snickers, “Hey, Uchida-senpai… That thing is supposed to show us the way out, right? Shouldn’t you…”

Her eyes widened as she put Morgana down, “Sorry!”

“...Wow, being picked up like a lady like that… It’s both flattering and nothing like any woman I’ve ever seen,” he turned to face Ryuji, Ren, and Mashiko, “Anyways, my name’s Morgana. Now that you know my name, it’s time to escape!”

The four turned to face a bridge raised up.

Mashiko frowned, “I can probably climb the bridge and hop across… But I’ll to figure out a way to get you guys across...”

“That doesn’t sound like a smart idea,” Ren told Mashiko as he kept looking around. This mysterious castle, these dungeons, they were making his head hurt. He let out a scowl, but Morgana piped up once again.

“Hey! Frizzy Hair! Blondie! Lady Blue!” Morgana gestured over to the head of Kamoshida right next to the bridge, his smug face ever-present and quite annoying to the three of them. Mashiko scowled at the image, he always did act like a jerk and this was getting clearer and clearer by the moment. Why would he suddenly make a statue right next to him. However, Morgana knew otherwise. With a smug grin on his face, he looked at Ren.

“Frizzy Hair, it looks like you have your head on straight,” he gestured over to the head of Kamoshida, “Try pulling on his lower jaw.”

Ren obliged as he pulled down the jaw of the Kamoshida’s head bust. Granted, he was incredibly tempted to try to break the jaw of Kamoshida, but a part of him said that this would do nothing. This could have even been connected to the bridge. In an instant, the bridge lowered down, granting the four of them safe passage across the water.

“How were we supposed to know to do that!?” Ryuji shouted in disbelief.

“Hmph, amateur…” Morgana complained, “Come on, let’s keep going!”

Okay, Ryuji was getting fed up with this cat and his attitude. He kept calling him an amateur—it wasn’t _his_ fault that he was brought into this strange world! Even worse, was the fact that all It was just so utterly confusing to him. Kamoshida appeared with only pink underwear on him. _Pink underwear._ That itself was gross enough.

“I’m so done with this place…”

Morgana sprinted ahead of the three, for something so small, he certainly did know his way around the place. Though, to be quite clear, Morgana was acting rather cocky and self-assure of himself. After all, Morgana was an expert when it came to infiltrating places like these. These amateurs clearly didn’t understand

To everyone’s surprise, a guard came wandering out of a doorway, trying to find the intruders. As it turned to see the high school students and the demon cat in front of it, it readied itself for the attack. Ren’s clothes changed yet again while Mashiko readied her shovel in order to bash in some heads.

“Hey, you two can fight right? Back me up!” Morgana grinned as he looked high up into the sky, “COME ZORRO!”

With a slice, the legendary Spanish thief appeared behind Morgana, incredibly muscular and clad in a shining black. With a rapier at the ready and a slash in a Z-shape, the being _glowed_ with a brilliant blue as it pointed at the knights.

“You got one of those things too!?” Ryuji asked Morgana in complete shock.

“We will promptly shut them up!”

The being roared as it melted deep into the floor, turning into the same pumpkin-headed creature and a small demon with a mischievous face on it, as well as a small growth appearing from its crotch area. Everyone was thinking it, including Mashiko, but there was no way that they would comment on it.

“That thing’s _gross!”_ Ryuji exclaimed.

Minus Ryuji of course.

“Looks like the Shadows are going all out,” Morgana said, scowling, “Alright, I’ll back both of you guys up! Just focus on defeating them, alright!”

Mashiko gripped her shovel tightly with a mad grin, “Got it!” With a slam of her shovel, Mashiko had went forward to attack it, but the creature flew out of the way. Mashiko looked up and immediately got hit by kick to the face.

“Ouch…”

With Mashiko providing a distraction, Ren spread his hand out toward the demon. Once again, a ball of dark energy flowed through, slamming right into the demon. It fell on the floor before smugly getting back up. It took damage, but it was far from being dazed.

“Heh, I knew the two of you were amateurs. Let me show you how a real Persona-user does this! Garu!”

With a swirl of his rapier, Zorro sent out a strong gust of wind toward the pumpkin-headed creature. It fell on the floor, dazed and confused. Both Mashiko and Ren stared at Morgana’s attack in shock and awe.

“Whoa! Morgana-chan really knows his stuff!”

Ren adjusted his mask, “Actually… It might not be just that it. These...Shadows you called them? They have various weaknesses right. So, these-”

“Jack O’Lanterns,” Morgana finished for Ren, “You got that right Frizzy Hair! These creatures are weak to Wind attacks! And it just so happens that _I_ have a Wind attack. You have a Curse skill though.”

Mashiko frowned, “Curse?”

“I’ll go into more detail later. For now, we gotta focus on getting out of this battle,” Morgana said.

“Got it,” Ren looked at the creature he and Mashiko were currently fighting, “And this guy?”

“Well uh… If I had to guess, Bless skills? None of you guys have Bless skill though. Just brute force your way in!”

Mashiko nodded with a grin as he rested her shovel on the floor and tore off her mask, “Nancy! Do...that thing again! Magna!”

Nancy floated behind Mashiko before spreading her hand out. In almost a second, the earth started to move, the demon looked around before its head was smashed by a rock, dissolved into a shadowy mist. Mashiko grinned, “We did it!”

Ren nodded with a grin on his face, “Good job Mashiko.”

“And an Earth skill, huh. Pretty good. For newbies, your Personas are pretty strong.” Morgana looked over to the both of them and Ryuji approached them out his hiding.

“...Persona? Are those what those things are called?” Ryuji asked.

“It’s one of those things that Carl Jung talked about. A Persona is essentially the mask that you wear when you go into the outside world, right?” Ren looked at Morgana.

“Something similar to that, yeah!” Morgana had a cheerful grin, “Anyways, everyone has a mask deep within their heart and when you remove that mask-”

Morgana’s exposition stopped when Ren’s appearance went back to his original uniform, but Mashiko’s didn’t. He looked at the two of them.

“Huh… I guess Frizzy Hair doesn’t have full controls over his powers yet…” he looked over to Mashiko, who, from his perspective, fully understood herself. Mashiko’s rebel spirit and possible understanding of his realm kept her uniform on, “And you get it fully meanwhile…”

“I mean… I just know I can make rocks appear and hit things with my shovel,” Mashiko admitted.

“Enough talk! We gotta get out of here!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“Sheesh, okay, okay…”

As they kept running forward, Mashiko kept her eyes out before seeing a volleyball team member in a cell groaning in pain while laying prone on the ground. She grabbed the bars, “Hey! Are you okay?”

“What?” Ryuji ran over to where Mashiko was, “I think we can save this one!”

“What!?” Morgana ran over to them, “You guys gotta be kidding me! We can’t just stop right now! We have to keep moving forward! We can’t worry about other people right now!”

Ren looked over to them, rubbing his chin. It actually didn’t make any sense that these people were in prison. They were just there, but a parent would have been worried or call the police. This situation hardly made sense at all. Now normally, he would have been all for getting these people out of the cells, but just like before, he had to stop them.

“Mashiko. Like I said before, we have to focus on escaping first,” Ren told her.

“But!” Mashiko looked at the volleyball player with a sympathetic look on her face, “He can’t...do anything. This person is stuck like this and their chance of escaping is…”

Ren nodded, “I know.”

“Frizzy Hair is right,” Morgana said, “Besides, these guys… Well…”

The three turned to face an armored knight running toward them, letting the bridge fall to the ground. Ren swore under his breath as his outfit changed once again. His knife at the ready.

“Ugh, we don’t have time for this!” Morgana shouted, “Frizzy Fair, Lady Blue! We gotta take care of these guys now!”

Mashiko looked back at the fallen volleyball player and shook her head. Ren was right, this place was dangerous. Maybe she could help them when she came back to the school! She gripped her shovel once again the knight melted into two of the fairies from before.

Ren went in first as he unleashed an Eiga on one of the fairies...and then the other. Morgana gave Ren a gleeful grin.

“Well, well, looks like you’ve got weaknesses in the bag!” Morgana said.

“I’ll go next!” Mashiko ran in and, once again, hit the creature with her shovel, watching as it dissolved into another black mist. Morgana ran in for the next strike, taking it down with a cutlass that was rather big for him. With the creatures defeated, the path was clear. With the path clear, the four of them continued their escape.

Making back their way to the main hall, Mashiko looked at one of the doors and jiggled it open, “Through here everyone!” As the group shuffled into the room, it appeared to be a dead end. Nowhere to go, but at least the air was flowing through the room. A small comfort when their deaths were rather inevitable.

“...Oh no…” Mashiko looked around, trying to find some way to escape. She didn’t want to die again! She was just _slightly_ older than last time!

“Did you trick us you jerk?” Ryuji turned to face Morgana, frowning at his exasperated expression.

“C’mon you guys. It’s the most basic of basics.”

Ren looked up, “The ventilation shaft.”

Mashiko blinked, “Oh! I get it!”

“...Huh… How did I not see that before?” Ryuji jumped up and jiggled the grating out, throwing it on the ground, making a loud clank sound, “Alright! We got an escape route! Though, you think they heard that?”

Ren just smirked as he looked back up at Ryuji, “Alright then, best if we escape first and foremost then, huh?” He got up the bookcase and looked back at Morgana with a look of concern in his eyes.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” Morgana said, “Me getting captured was just a fluke. A complete accident on my part.”

With that, Ren nodded as he went through the ventilation shaft.

Morgana then turned to face Mashiko with a wild grin on his face.

“With that, your exit is clear milady!” he bowed before her, which was easy because he was pretty anthropomorphic at the time.

Mashiko grinned, “Got it Morgana-chan!” She leapt up the bookcase with expertise, almost like she had been climbing things before. Her actions were definitely similar to that of a monkey.

Morgana hid under the cover of darkness as he started to think to himself, “Hm… Those three can be useful. The frizzy-haired one and Lady Blue especially… Ugh, I forgot to ask for the Lady’s name! Ugh, I’ll keep that in mind next time I see them!”

* * *

After a disagreement with police officers, which Ren was calmly able to dispute by saying that the train lines were all messed up by the previous subway accidents, the three of them walked back to school. Mashiko’s expression, meanwhile, was full of gloom. This was the _first_ time that she was ever late this school this badly. She approached the gates as if going into a war zone.

The king of the school looked over to them with a smug grin on his face, “Sakamoto-san, Uchida-san… Not a surprise to see you being this late to class Sakamoto-san, but Uchida-san! You should be making a better example for your underclassman.”

“I…” Mashiko looked at Kamoshida defiantly, still recalling his bullying during all this time, “I-”

Ren stopped her from talking, taking charge, “Like we told the police. The train lines were messed up. Both Uchida-senpai and Sakamoto-san decided to help me out in getting to class.”

“Hmph, alright then. That’s a half-decent excuse for Uchida-san,” Kamoshida gave Mashiko a grin, “She’s always late to school after all. Maybe your carefree nature didn’t get you anywhere today… Though, Sakamoto-san, you need to talk to the faculty about your tardiness as always.”

Ryuji scowled as he walked up the stairs, Mashiko watched as he glared at the coach teacher. She herself had problems with the man, but Ryuji seemed to just _despite_ Kamoshida. With an annoyed look on his face, he entered the school. Mashiko followed suit as did Ren, but Kamoshida spoke loud enough for Mashiko to hear him speak as he stopped Ren in his tracks.

“I’m sure you heard from the principal, but cause any trouble and you’ll be expelled. Understand?”

Ren looked at Kamoshida and simply gave a nod, “Alright then…”

“Hmph. At any rate, hurry up and go to the faculty office. I’m sure Ms. Kawakami’s tired of waiting.”

Mashiko looked at Ren and Kamoshida blinking. Ms. Kawakami? She was a homeroom teacher for the second-years. Mashiko knew that Ren was a transfer student, but to get expelled for no reason? She felt another pang of injustice well up inside of her. This made absolutely no sense!

Kamoshida gave Ren a friendly smile and a pat on the back, “Good luck trying to enjoy your new school life!”

Kamoshida went on ahead as Ren looked down, his eyes brimming with annoyance. There were two versions of Kamoshida and he didn’t fully get it. However, he knew that whatever Kamoshida meant? It was obviously not good at all.

“Amamiya-san?” Mashiko looked back at Ren who shook his head.

“It’s nothing. I’ll see you at school.”

With that Ren walked on ahead, Mashiko following him with a look of concern on her face. Something happened to Ren and every part of Mashiko was telling her to figure it all out as soon as she could.


	4. The New Normal

_"Did you hear? We have a criminal in our school.”_

_“Whoa, that’s dangerous. Why would we have someone like that?”_

Mashiko looked more confused than ever before. A criminal, in her school? That made absolutely no sense. There was literally only one transfer student at the moment, as far as Mashiko had known at the very least, so logically that had to be someone Mashiko knew couldn’t be a criminal. Was it Ren?

She stepped into the classroom with an awkward look on her face as both Atsuko and Maria looked at Mashiko with shock and relief in their eyes.

“Mashiko!” Atsuko ran up to hug her, “I was so worried something terrible happened to you!”

Maria smiled, looking at Atsuko, “Uchida-san, we were worried about you. Though, Sasaki-san though something terrible happened.”

“Don’t worry A-chan, Hikari-san, I’m completely fine! Though…” she looked around before sitting down with her fellow classmates, “What’s all this about the criminal?”

Atsuko frowned before crossing her arms, “...They _said_ that the new transfer student is supposed to be a criminal. That’s the rumor that’s been going around. Like he’s done things from murder to always carrying a knife around at school.” She looked over to Mashiko, surprised by the shocked expression on her face.

Transfer student. It had to be Ren, but that was completely against what Mashiko knew about Ren from the short time that she got to know him. He was quiet, but clearly concerned about her. This guy that everyone was claiming was a violent man with tons of outbursts was contrary from the person Mashiko knew. Sure, he was cocky and confident while they were fighting those monsters Morgana-chan called Shadows, but that didn’t automatically make Ren a violent criminal.

“That’s completely wrong!” Mashiko slammed her hands against the desk, startling the rest of the students having their lunch in the classroom. Some of them looked at Mashiko and once again, the rumor mill started to pop in once again, the whispers growing louder in volume.

 _“..._ _Oh right, Uchida was seen with Sakamoto and the transfer student. You think that she’s tons of trouble?”_

_“I mean, she’s friends with the weird-looking girl, but she’s not even focused on anything…”_

_“Maybe they all know each other. Heh, how much you wanna bet that Uchida and the transfer student probably did it with her. I bet she’s pretty easy then…”_

Mashiko looked down before a hand was placed on her. She looked up to see Maria just smile at Mashiko who herself had a sad expression on her face.

“Uchida-san, they’re just rumors… Maybe the new transfer student isn’t so bad, right? Maybe he’s one of the nicest people in this school…” she looked at the mass of students who were just muttering amongst themselves. It hurt her, it honestly did. All these rumors and mutterings under other people’s breath. She recalled a certain gym teacher talking to her when she had entered the school, immediately making Maria uncomfortable. She was used to this attention, especially seeing as she _did_ have Western blood in her, but she could hear the words that Kamoshida said to her.

_“You should join the volleyball team Hikari-san…”_

Denying him caused problems for her life from there on, but working as the nurse’s aid made things slightly easier on her. It still hurt though.

“Yeah, you’re right…” Atsuko closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Everyone, every single person she had met, they thought was just weird like her previous life, but Mashiko immediately wanted to have a friendship with her. It made Atsuko blush, recalling the times where she just wanted Mashiko all for herself. Though, how would anyone respond to Atsuko’s crush to Mashiko? It would be even worse for her, people constantly telling Atsuko to grow up from her “friendship” with Mashiko.

No, it was… It was better this way.

Better to keep her feelings for Mashiko a secret.

Mashiko gave her childhood best friend and her new friend a grin, “That’s right! We went into a castle together and Iiiiiiiii-” She paused, as she noticed both Atsuko and Maria give her confused looks on their faces. There was a cough coming directly from her as she sat back down.

“I mean, I had to help them get to class on time,” she reasoned out, “But uh… Since the...uh...subway incident happened, we got confused.”

Maria blinked, thinking her statement to be confusing (especially the castle part), but Atsuko looked at her best friend. Mashiko had _lied_ to her. Certainly, there had to be an explanation for this. She would _never_ believe the rumors that would eventually start up from Mashiko’s disappearance, never. However, it was clear that Mashiko had spent time with both the new transfer student and the troublemaker of the second-years, but for what reason?

She would have to ask those questions later. She wouldn’t press for more information on this, of course she wouldn’t, but Atsuko would learn the truth of Mashiko’s actions. She would eventually say something that would reveal the truth.

The conversation changed to something more familiar, _Fortune Lover._ There wasn’t enough time to talk about everything that Mashiko had done in-game, but she could think about what happened in the world that she once lived in. She looked directly at Atsuko.

“A-chan, quick question… I know there are bad ends where Katarina dies… Like in Keith and Gerod’s endings, but…” Mashiko paused, thinking about the hidden route and the circumstances of her death in the previous world. Something had happened to her, but she couldn’t remember everything. From the moment of _The Public Prosecution of Katarina_ to her demise, Mashiko couldn’t remember anything at all. Somewhere, deep within her heart, she felt Nancy rumble, her too unable to recall everything.

Atsuko gave Mashiko a surprised look, “I thought you didn’t want spoilers. Hm, well, it has something to do with the hidden capture target. Needless to say, getting it the first time was a shock. I mean, I can tell you more if you want me too.”

“Well-” Mashiko started to say before a teacher walked in.

“Alright everyone. Get back to your seats! This is going to be the last period of the day due to the train derailing.”

“I’ll tell you more later Mashiko! Here! I took some notes for the things that you missed!” Atsuko gave Mashiko a smile, which Mashiko returned. Mashiko sat down and listened as the teacher said that due to the train accident, classes would end after this period. However, that was the only interesting source of information to her. All of this wasn’t important. What _was_ important was finding her friends from her other life.

Maybe if she played some more of _Fortune Lover,_ she’d be able to figure it out. Though, how could she tell this to her friends _and_ Ryuji and Ren? Eh, she’ll figure it out as she goes along. She couldn’t just drop this bomb on her friends, but the people she went into that strange castle with would probably understand it? It was something to consider for later.

* * *

Once the class was over, Mashiko stepped outside the classroom to get a breather, waving good-bye to both Atsuko and Maria, who were headed back to their respective homes, when noticed saw that the world had somehow become like a castle corridor. She shook her head in confusion, the world that she had seen and the world that was actually there had temporarily overlapped. They did look similar after all.

“Hey, Uchida-senpai,” Ryuji approached Mashiko, “Meet me at the rooftop. After all, you were also involved in this insanity.”

Mashiko blinked, “Wait, but the rooftop’s-” She sighed as she looked at the ceiling, “...Closed for the day.”

Not everyone was allowed free access to the rooftop, only those with special permission were allowed, though Mashiko knew that that ruling was pretty light. Honestly, almost anyone could go on the rooftop, but it wasn’t like she needed to go there.

As she walked over, she looked over to her cellphone with a concerned look on her face. Her mother had messaged her a few moments ago, telling her to go home because she had something vitally important to tell her. Was it something about Ren and to not associate with him? That was impossible, his criminal record had just leaked today. It could also have been about her sleeping habits, but again, impossible. Her mother had seen her leave for school early, but she ended up late.

She approached the rooftop doors, noticing the “off-limits” sign. Still, it was unlocked. As she opened it, she noticed what appeared to be Ryuji, Ren, and- Wait, was that a miniature garden growing on the rooftop?

“Hey Uchida-sen- Wait, where are you going?”

Mashiko’s attention was grabbed the miniature garden, she could notice that the vegetables were growing as much as they could. To be honest, she found it quite fascinating. In all three of her lives, she was more than interested in gardening: her first and third life, she was taught by her grandmother and the second was because she believed that it would help her avoid her Destruction End where she would be sent to exile after Gerod and Maria got together. Though, load of good gardening did to her in the end. She died due to...whatever happened after her the “Prosecution.”

“Uh… Mashiko?” Ren said.

“Huh?” Mashiko looked over to Ren and Ryuji with a confused face, “Oh, sorry! I just noticed this garden? Whoever made it has a definite green thumb!”

“...Uh, right,” Ryuji said, “So… Guess ya heard about Ren, didn’t you?”

Mashiko nodded, “Yeah…” She gave the black haired teen a sympathetic look before continuing to speak. “You don’t seem the type.”

Ren scowled, shaking his head, “It’s...true I have a record, but the fact that it got leaked out concerns me. All it does is make my goddamn life at school harder. That record only came because of bullshit reasons.”

“...Bull...shit?” Mashiko slowly said.

“...It’s complicated. So, Ryuji, why did you call us up here?”

“It’s about that castle,” Ryuji started to say, “The two of us almost got killed and Uchida-senpai…” He looked over to the girl, before shaking his head from the thoughts of what would have happened to her.

“Anyways, that...wasn’t a dream right?”

Mashiko shook her head, “Nope! I still have all my memories right here! If it was a dream, it would have been quickly forgotten!” She gave both Ren and Ryuji a smile as they both looked at their upperclassman with confusion lighting up in their eyes. Still, Ryuji continued to speak.

“Anyways, dream or not, we gotta talk about Kamoshida… Like I said before, Mashiko and I have a bit of a history with him, plus all the rumors about him,” Ryuji said.

“But Mashiko is always late, right?” Ren answered.

“Eh? It’s not like I _want_ to be late! I just sleep late and spend the rest of the day playing video games!” Mashiko defended, “Still, although I can see Kamoshida acting that way in the castle, there would be no _way_ that he’d be allowed to teach here if he acted that way, right? I mean, most of what Kamoshida does to me is just bully me about coming to school late.”

“Other than that, the only reason why nobody says anything against him is when he took our volleyball team to nationals and won some goddamn medal a bunch of years back in the Olympics. It’s not like that’s important, right?” Ryuji spat out, making his distaste clear for Ren and Mashiko to hear out.

Ren frowned, “...Yeah, that doesn’t warrant his...actions toward either of you.”

“Yeah! He’s a jerk!” Mashiko pouted.

“...Well, that’s one way to put it,” Ryuji leaned back into the chair, thinking to himself. “...You guys think there’s a way to get back to that castle?”

“Maybe,” Ren said, “Anyways, you have to admit, the pain was genuinely real…” He shook his head before looking at Mashiko with a concerned look in his eyes. “Anyways, what was all of that in the prison cell?”

Well, if there was any time for Mashiko to be put in the spotlight? It was time. Her brain was going over idea and idea. Could she tell them about her other lives? That made the most sense in her mind. Not to mention, they probably could have recognized her outfit maybe.

“...Oh yeah,” Ryuji said, “You doing okay now senpai?”

Mashiko took in a deep breath before looking at her companions. Telling them the truth would do nothing, but probably convince everyone that she was insane. However, what the three of them had experienced was insane. There was only one answer to all of this: to tell the truth.

“...What do you guys know about _Fortune Lover?”_

Both boys looked at Mashiko with some amount of confusion. How was this important to their current situation?

“Not my style,” Ren commented.

“Um… It’s that otome game, right? Yeah, like he said, not really my style,” Ryuji said, “I mean, if you’re trying to advertise it to us, I’m sorry, but…”

“No, no! It’s not like that!” Mashiko exclaimed, “Okay, listen…”

And thus, two boys who would never have even touched an otome game got a run-down on _Fortune Lover._ To both of them, it sounded like a generic visual novel with various romantic options laid out for the main character, Maria. There was literally no reason for either of them to even get into it. They weren’t even the target audience!

“And finally, there’s Katarina Claes. She’s the main villainess of the story. She bullies the main character and eventually, in all of the endings, she ends up dead or exiled!”

“...And why is she important?” Ryuji said.

“Because I was reincarnated as her in my past life after I was killed in a life similar to that of this one!” Mashiko exclaimed, “So I naturally did everything in my power to avoid that fate and grow old with a cat!”

“…”

Neither Ren and Ryuji had anything to say about that. After all, how would a sane person react to a girl who was almost graduating high school telling them outright “I reincarnated to a character into a visual novel?” It literally made no sense.

“But I didn’t and I just remembered that I was Katarina Claes!” Mashiko exclaimed.

“...Uchida-senpai?” Ryuji finally said.

“Yeah?”

“...Are you a chuuni?”

“What? No! It actually happened! I can tell you guys right now that I was reborn into my former life, but now I’m in Tokyo instead!” Mashiko exclaimed.

“...Okay,” Ryuji stood up before looking over to Ren, “I’m...probably gonna leave now. I think we’ll get along just well...Ren, right?”

Ren nodded, “And you’re…”

“Ryuji Sakamoto. I’ll see both you guys later,” Ryuji gave Ren a friendly smile and Mashiko a concerned look before heading off.

Ren sighed before looking over to Mashiko, “...Your story is...confusing.”

“...You don’t believe it? After all we’ve seen?” Mashiko asked Ren.

Ren sighed before looking at the sky, he could feel Arsene burning in him, wanting to unleash justice onto the world where hidden villains were found. However, when it came down to Mashiko, there was nothing but confusion. However, this information was told to Ren and Ryuji for a reason right? So, Mashiko had to trust them to tell them something so crazy and insane. Finally, Ren had his answer.

“...Like I said, it’s confusing,” Ren said, “But, your actions in the jail cell showed something interesting to me. You kept saying to yourself, ‘You’re Mashiko.’ I think you knew who you are Mashiko, so I think you make your own truth. Reincarnation or not, there’s a reason why you’re here, correct?”

There was a long pause from Mashiko before she smiled at Ren, “...Yeah! You’re right! I’m Katarina Claes, but I’m also Mashiko Uchida!”

Ren just nodded before sighing, “Anyways, I have to go home now. My guardian will be mad at me.”

“...Guardian?”

Ren just walked over to the doors back inside before looking at Mashiko, “...It has something to do with my assault charge.” With that, he exited the rooftop, now leaving the girl alone with her thoughts and a small garden growing up in the hallway. The experiences that Mashiko had as Katarina were still shining quite brightly in her mind. Truth or not, Mashiko Uchida was Katarina Claes and vice versa.

And hey, maybe this was a good thing. She finally had a chance to be with Atsuko again. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll be able to find her other friends in this world too. Saying a small prayer to whatever god could hear her, Mashiko began the trek back to her house, still staring at the text message that her mother sent her.

* * *

“I’m home!” Mashiko exclaimed.

Home, it was such an interesting place to be now. For seventeen years in one world, she lived in a house by the countryside. For fifteen, Katarina lived in a mansion. Now in Tokyo, Japan, Mashiko lived in the suburbs where hustle and bustle was commonplace.

“Ah, Mashiko!” her older university brother smiled at his sister, “How was school? Mom and I noticed you left home at a good time.”

“Well… You know how the subway incident happened? We...got late because of that,” Mashiko swiftly said, “Mom texted me some pretty important things though?”

“Mashiko!” her mother looked at her, “We’re having a new guest at the house for the time being.”

“...A new guest?” Mashiko asked.

“Yeah. Your father’s friend from work got caught up with the subway accident with his wife,” her mother gave Mashiko a sad smile, “While they recover, we’re going to be taking care of their son. You remember Riku Kakihara, right?”

“Eeeeeh?” Mashiko’s eyes widened, “You mean Riku is staying with us for the time being?”

“Ah, obasan!” a voice called out from the hallway, revealing themselves to a gentle-looking young boy with brown hair and a calm demeanor, he smiled at Mashiko’s mother, “I just finished unpacking.” That was when he saw Mashiko and his eyes widened.

“Nee-san!”

“Riku!” Mashiko immediately ran over to hug the other boy, “It’s so good to see you!”

“You two are as thick as thieves like when you guys were younger,” her brother said, looking over to the two younger children, “You guys _do_ know that we’re just related by being third cousins, right?”

“Yes, but… Nee-san was really kind to me,” Riku had a small smile on his face, “Anyways… I’m...happy that my parents just got injured from the crash, but I have to transfer schools because of it.”

“Eh?” Mashiko tilt her head, “Mom, what school is Riku transferring too?”

“So far, we have two options: Kosei and Shujin Academy. They’re both within relative distance to our house.”

“Great!” Mashiko smiled, “Oh! Riku, I need to show you the games that I started playing now!”

“Wait! Nee-san!”

Her mother, exhausted by her daughter’s recklessness, just shook her head as she went back to preparing dinner. A part of her hoped that Shujin Academy would take Riku, mostly so that way he could wake Mashiko up on time. However, the transfer option was going to be difficult. The new year had already started, but she wouldn’t fret. His parents wanted Riku to continue his education regardless of their state. Once again, she was grateful to whatever gods had looked out for Kakihara’s household that neither of them had gotten two injured, baring their unfortunate extended stay in the hospital of course.

Mashiko turned on her PS4 and started up Fortune Lover. So, there was a twofold reasoning behind this. Mashiko needed to investigate, to look into the characters of the game and secondly, Riku probably liked these games, right?

“...That’s Fortune Lover, right?” Riku had a flash of realization come over him before shaking it off.

“That’s right!”

Riku was patient with Mashiko, but he didn’t actually enjoy these kinds of games. He actually wasn’t much of a gamer at all. However, there was something about him that brought him closer to Mashiko. It was during a company picnic that his father had brought him to when Mashiko had fell on him after having climbing a tree. Riku had a flash of revelation come over him, dreams that he had to be closer to Mashiko. She showed him kindness and adoration even before he learned that they were to be related.

 _‘...I have to protect her,’_ Riku thought to himself before looking at the game and seeing Mashiko’s character, Maria meet with Keith. Keith gave her the handkerchief that had fallen. Wait, a moment! He had done that before, right? He felt a headache come over him.

“...I’m...sorry Nee-san. I need to go get some rest. Call me when oba-san makes dinner…”

Mashiko looked over to Riku, “Oh! No problem Riku!” She gave him a smile that Riku returned gratefully. Mashiko continued playing as Riku walked away from her room. His head was aching once more, he wasn’t on the train that his parents were in, so it couldn’t have been that. Was it because he had spent most of the day unpacking? Yes, that must have been it.

As Riku was struggling with these thoughts back in his room, Mashiko continued to play her game as she looked at Keith. He was flirting with Maria. Her heart began to ache once again. Her Keith never acted like that. He was a gentleman through and through. Certainly, woman flocked to his side, but Keith never flirted with any of them. Much rather, he just gave them a polite smile and small talk. Her self as Katarina was never able to fully figure out who Keith liked, but those were questions for later.

She missed all of them. Her controller was starting to get wet as tears started to form into her eyes, dropping down. She loved all of them because they were her friends. She wanted them back. She wanted to live her life with her friends again.

“…” Mashiko put the controller down as she stood up and walked to a notepad. She should be focusing on school, but right now? She had to figure some things out.

 **The Master Plan To Find Her Friends** had started up! She began listing out their names: Keith Claes, Geordo Stuart, Alan Stuart, Mary Hunt, Sophia Ascart, Nicol Ascart, Maria Campbell and finally-! She felt her body freeze up as she wrote down Sirius Dieke. She was certainly close to him, after all, he was the student council president, but she never officially met him. However, this information could help her find Nicol then! They knew each other. Though, a thought came to her mind: “What if their fates in this world were completely different? What if they didn’t even live in Japan?” However, she shook her head. No, she had to try. A list began to form:

  * Keith Claes: My little brother, has earth magic, gentle and kind, but attracts a lot of girls attention? Find someone who attracts girls’ attention.

  * Geordo Stuart: My fiancee who I kept trying to break the engagement out of. Brothers with Alan Stuart. Find twins who don’t look like each other? Maybe a kendo master as well?

  * Alan Stuart: Mary’s fiancee. Possibly a pianist in this universe? Fingers crossed!

  * Mary Hunt: Green thumb, likely a gardener. Don’t know where the garden on the rooftop came from.

  * Sophia Ascart: Loves romance novels and is close to her brother.

  * Nicol Ascart: Close to his sister. Has a charming smile. Childhood friends with Geordo and Alan

  * Maria Campbell: Makes sweets! ♥️ Find girl who makes sweets and is very kind. Maybe Nurse’s Office aid = light magic?

  * Sirius Dieke: Childhood friends with Nicol. Possible student council president.




Mashiko had ended her list at the moment, still musing over it. There was a possible chance that whoever her friends were reborn as, if they were reborn, would express traits similar to that in this world and the other. Her mind had to be set on this. There would be no other thoughts in her head once this was over!

“I will find my friends!” Mashiko cried out.

“Keep it down Mashiko!” her mother yelled, “And do your homework!”

Mashiko groaned as she looked at her bag full of her future assignments, “...Okay…” With an exhausted expression on her face, she took out her phone and some earpieces. At the very least, she could listen to music while working on her work. That was when she saw it, a strange app with an eyeball.

“...I...never installed that on my phone.”

Whether it was spyware or not, Mashiko couldn’t risk it. She deleted the app and began her homework.

* * *

Once again, Mashiko had went to school at a good time, but she could still hear the rumor mill go on and on once again despite the rain pouring down on the city of Tokyo. Once again, she didn’t really have an excuse after all.

_“Did you hear about the new honor’s student? She’s so pretty…”_

_“_ _It’s unfair… Why can’t we be like her?”_

_“Heh, we have a troublemaker and an honors student here… How crazy is this school year going to be?”_

Another transfer student and, if the fates had decided to align themselves, there would be a third transfer student as well. This was something Mashiko hadn’t been so sure about though. She didn’t know how well Riku had done in school, but it was bound to be leagues above her own.

“Still though…” Mashiko muttered to herself during one moment. Could that castle be tied to her friends and former memories? She got her memories back while within that strange castle. She looked over to her best friend in this world, Atsuko.

“...I hope you and Sophia get along quite well,” Mashiko silently said before approaching her for their daily conversations about video games and other such things. To be frank, she didn’t have enough time to think about _Fortune Lover._ Just playing it made her miss them, even if these characters were her friends from one timeline, this was different. As Katarina, she was constantly there for her friends, but she couldn’t be there in the world of the video game. Then again, _Fortune Lover_ was made by a company who just desired to make an otome game. They didn’t know it was also a world where people lived in.

Still, their conversation turned to _Fortune Lover_ once again.

“...I still feel terrible for Maria,” Maria said, “I mean, she did her hardest, but she gets bullied by Katarina. I think a part of me wishes that Katarina was a better person, but then again, I do feel bad for her as well.”

“Yeah!” Mashiko said, “Her magic isn’t so great and that’s all Katarina has.”

Ugh, why was her other self in the video game some two-dimensional villainess who was just meant to be hated by players? Just that fact alone annoyed her! Heck, she hated watching Katarina bully Mashiko again. She felt ashamed that in some world, where she didn’t get a head injury, she would have turned out like that!

“...Maybe she deserved those fates…” Mashiko muttered to herself.

“Oh yeah! The secret route! It’s-”

Again, the bell signaling the end of lunch had occurred and Mashiko shook her head. It seemed like fate would cause her to not find out the secret route. Mashiko began to think however. To be frank, it would be definitely better if she had discovered that route for herself, right?

It wasn’t like it was _that_ important. Once the school day ended, Mashiko had seen both Ren and Ryuji talking to each other.

Ren turned around and nodded at her, “Hey there Mashiko.”

Ryuji scratched the back of his head, “Oh… Uchida-senpai. I was just talking to Ren about that castle we saw. You...might have some weird ideas and thoughts about life, but you and Ren are the only people I can talk to about this stuff.”

“Maybe it’ll be best if we investigate the castle again, huh?” Ren gave Ryuji a smirk.

“Oh yeah!” Mashiko’s eyes started to shine, “That way, we’ll be able to save those people trapped!”

Ren just shrugged, “Well, what’s our strategy?”

“I think we should just try and retrace our steps from yesterday,” Ryuji said, “Oh and uh… Uchida-senpai, you’re okay with hanging with us, right?”

Mashiko looked more and more confident, “It’s fine! After all, my reputation at school is already messed up because I was always late to school!”

“...That’s not something to be proud of,” Ryuji calmly said.

The three of them went about retracing their steps, going back to the station that they went out of and then looking at the entrance of the school. Ryuji crossed his arms, frowning, “...That was no castle.”

“I mean, if there was a castle in the middle of Tokyo,” Ren started to say, “Someone would have reported it.”

“But it wasn’t a dream! My memories came back that way!” Mashiko yelled out, “We have to do it again!”

There is a certain term for what the three of them were doing: Repeating a process over and over again expecting a different result tends to be the definition of insanity. As such, what those three were doing seemed to be just confusing to the people who were watching them. Why would they just go to the station and then go back to the school gates?

Mashiko just shook her head as she took her phone out, checking any new messages from her mother. It was just information that during lunch, both her and Riku had decided to talk to the principal of both Kosei and Shujin Academy. Hopefully, they would get information about the transfer soon enough. That was good. However, she was shocked once she had seen something appear on her phone screen.

“...The app’s back…” Mashiko muttered to herself as she almost went about the process of deleting the app again.

“App?” Ren looked over to Mashiko before pulling his phone out, “Wait, Mashiko. Don’t delete that app. I think…it might be related.”

“Huh? Yo, can I see it?” Ryuji took the phone from Ren and clicked on the eyeball-looking app, “Holy _shit!_ This is a navigation app! There’s even your search history!”

Mashiko’s eyes widened as she clicked on the app. Before her eyes, she had seen the following words: _Kamoshida… Shujin Academy… Pervert… Castle._ She started to muse to herself as she heard Ryuji mess around with Ren’s phone. That was when she felt the world go dark once again, a headache starting to form. Before their eyes, the school that they had be inside for the majority of their day had suddenly transformed into a castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And look at that, the next chapter is here. Yay. So naturally, it was full of exposition and stuff like that, but we did get a new character: Riku Kakihara. And yes, in case you're all wondering? Riku is meant to be the reincarnation of Keith Claes. 
> 
> And now for a bit of a run down about my own personal thoughts on Keith: He's...interesting. As a character, I kinda saw the whole "Big Sister Attraction" to be a bit off-putting, even if they're a) adopted and b) only _distant_ relatives. However, I knew that people do like him and tend to ship him with Katarina. Now as for if Riku will like Katarina, even post-past lives awakening? I'm not sure. 
> 
> I did change some stuff up though. Riku is Mashiko's third cousin in this universe, but they're meant to be friends from childhood. Some of these characters' lives changed a bit and others haven't. You'll see more as we continue this fanfiction.


	5. Castle Infiltration

The castle was still standing tall in front of the trio, a realm that just defined grandeur and greatest. It was the perfect place for a man like Kamoshida to rule over.

“...So it wasn’t a dream,” Ryuji muttered to himself.

“Whoa! The castle’s back!” Mashiko’s eyes widened before looking over to Ren, who was clad once again in his trenchcoat and dress shirt. It was just like yesterday. Her eyes looked at him in shock.

“Whoa…”

“Whoa yourself Uchida-senpai,” Mashiko heard Ryuji say, “Look like your clothes changed as well!”

Mashiko looked at her clothes, just like before, she was wearing a more form-fitting version of her clothes as Katarina Claes. She twirled around. One positive to being Katarina Claes compared to her past, and current, life of Mashiko Uchida was the fact that she was able to wear clothes that she normally could never wear. Katarina Claes wore fancy clothes, Mashiko wore clothes that befitted a regular teenage girl in Japan. Sometimes a high school uniform, other times a casual t-shirt.

Now Mashiko got the best of both worlds!

“What is with your outfits?”

Ren gave Ryuji a smug look, “What do you mean? Ya jelly?”

“I-I ain’t jealous!” Ryuji exclaimed, clearing showing off his jealousy. Why did both of them get badass clothing and not him? It was totally unfair

“Looks like the three of you are back.”

Morgana appeared from a corner, having hidden behind a pillar. He stared at the three of them with concern in his eyes.

“Why though is the question,” Morgana looked over to the trio, “Ever since the three of you escaped, things have gotten a lot worse for the prisoners… I honestly can’t believe the three of you.”

“Well, I just want to know… Is this the school?” Ryuji looked at the castle, confusion shining straight into his eyes. Logically speaking, a castle shouldn’t be a school and a school shouldn’t be a castle.

“Well, it is what you guys call your school,” Morgana looked up at the castle while crossing his arms.

“So, why is it a castle now?” Mashiko asked. She looked at the cat-like creature with great confusion. She still didn’t fully get why the castle that they barely escaped from yesterday had suddenly appeared before them. In fact, this was just one whole insane logic bomb to her!

“Yeah! All of this stuff is so effed up!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“Calm down, both of you!” Morgana exclaimed. Morgana was slowly getting annoyed with the blond haired boy and his shouting antics, “Basically, this place _is_ the castle, but it’s a castle from the ruler’s point of view.”

“...Kamoshida,” Ren mused.

“Yeah! I’m glad you get it compared to…the other person here,” Morgana smiled at Ren while ignoring the annoyed shout from Ryuji, glad to see that one person somewhat understood exactly what was going on. Meanwhile, Mashiko was clearly a lady and a lady must always be treated with the respect she deserved. If she needed to be taught the basics, then as a gentleman, that is what Morgana would do.

“It’s how his distorted heart views the school.”

“What…” Ryuji muttered, “Dude! Explain it in a way that makes sense!”

Mashiko rose her hand, “Um, Morgana-chan? I still don’t get it.”

It was time to flex for Morgana. He smiled at Mashiko while pointedly ignoring Ryuji, “Don’t worry! I can explain everything for a lady such as yourself!”

“Actually, I think I figured it out,” Ren said, suddenly stealing Morgana’s thunder to his discontent, “Basically, the castle is how Kamoshida sees the school. You said it yourself awhile back. Kamoshida sees himself as a king, ruling over the castle that is Shujin Academy.”

That was when the three of them could hear screams. Mashiko put her hands to her mouth in horror and shock.

“Morgana-chan, are those…”

“Yeah. Those are the prisoners,” Morgana explained.

“Goddamn it! This is bullshit!”

In a fit of rage, Ryuji immediately ran over to the doors and began trying to knock them down. All of this, all of these things had consecutively pissed him off! Kamoshida had somehow created the school into the castle and was torturing his students all the goddamn time! In the end, all of this was a grave injustice that would bring problems to everyone!

“...Smart guy,” Morgana deadpanned, “Still, looks like you’ve got your reasons…”

“There’s a way to get into the castle right?” Ren asked, still looking up, “I think it’s best if we check to see where those voices are coming from.”

“Oh yeah!” Ryuji’s eyes widened.

Mashiko smiled, “We can help the prisoners escape and then we can leave this place and even start a revolution to dethrone this king!”

“...You’re kidding me right? You guys want me to take you to them? I don’t get what you guys are saying, but I guess I can help you guys out. However, Frizzy Hair and Lady Blue will have to be the ones at the front of us,” Morgana looked over to both Ren and Mashiko, his eyes shining and glowing. He found the two of them to be quite interesting characters. Both of them could use the power of the Persona after all and if it were possible, their abilities would help him with his own quest.

“Frizzy Hair?” Ren asked, “My name is Ren Amamiya.”

“...Well… It’s nice to be called a lady and while I’m here, I look like Katarina Claes,” Mashiko muttered to herself before looking directly at Morgana, “But in this world, I was born as Mashiko Uchida!”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Ren, Lady Mashiko...or something like Lady Katarina. So, both of you, are you willing to be the frontliners? I bet the two of you can fight.” Morgana asked.

Ren shrugged, “Well… Sure, I can do that.” He gave the three of them quite a confident look. “After all, I have a few gut feelings what’s going on here after all.”

Mashiko nodded, “Alright then, then I’ll do what I can! I’m up and ready to take down any bad guys who stand in our way.”

“Alright then!” Ryuji gave both Ren and Mashiko a grin, “Ren, you’re a good guy. Thanks for helping us out and uh… Uchida-senpai? You’re a bit weird, but if you’re willing to help us-”

“Of course I am!” Mashiko happily said, “And don’t worry! I can tell you everything I know about my previous two lives!”

“...Uh, right,” Ryuji deadpanned.

“All right! Let’s do this! You three, follow me!” Morgana nodded to the trio as they followed him over to the window. Like his form suggested, he was able to get to a certain hole in the wall. He looked downwards to the trio, “Alright, this is our entrance point. No true Phantom Thief takes the normal door.”

“Phantom…Thief? Oh! Like the Devilish Count series!” Mashiko said as she began to climb up the walls with a similar amount of agility that Morgana had shown previously. It didn't help that she had climbed trees in all of her lives and this was not as different.

“Devilish...Count?” Ryuji asked.

“It's an anime series about a man who acts like a proper noble by day and a thief by night, with his charming smile and allure, he can bring any woman or man to his whims,” Ren told him, “I saw a few episodes about it. Not my cup of tea, but apparently, it was Mashiko's.”

“Yeah... Still, you actually believe it when she says she's a reincarnation of a video game character dude? I mean, that makes no effin sense.”

Ren looked up through the vent before closing his eyes, “Truth or not, her outfit looks a lot like Katarina Claes from the video game here.” He entered through the vent before reaching his hand out for Ryuji.

“You're coming too, right?”

“Yeah! Don't worry, I gotcha!”

It was a bit strenuous, but Ryuji wasn't too difficult to bring into the vent along with Ren. Apparently, it was a bit easier by all accounts. That was something that Ren had found to be a curiosity. In the normal “real” world, Ren wasn't that strong. Certainly, he did rather decent back in his old hometown's PE, but no way he could have lifted an entire person so he could get into a vent. His thoughts slowly turned cynical, being reminded of the reason _why_ he was in Tokyo. The four eventually ended up on the other side of the castle, all of them looking around the area.

“...Man, this is place is as creepy as always,” Ryuji said. Seriously, this was a goddamn castle where a school should have been. Hell, it probably wasn't even well-maintained. Then again, this whole castle was meant for the express purpose of praising Kamoshida. This place was just creepy bullshit.

“Never really got to live in a castle as Katarina,” Mashiko admitted, “Though, I did live in a mansion.” She let out a succinct sigh as she started to remember how big her mansion was, especially now compared to where she was living now.

“Creepy or not, we're in here to investigate,” Ren reminded them.

“Yeah. Be sure to do everything I say, alright? None of you guys want to get caught.” After saying that, Morgana ran ahead as the rest of the group started to follow suit. As the four ran through the main lobby of the castle, the image slowly shifted to the front entrance of the school before returning back to the main lobby.

“This is just like my vision...” Ren slowly said.

“You...had it too?” Mashiko asked them.

“Hey, you guys see it too... It's like this place was Shujin and then...wasn't?” Ryuji looked back at his companions before looking over to Morgana. “Hey, you got an explanation?”

“Like I said before, this castle is your school. To be more specific, this is how Kamoshida sees the school within his heart. Still, don't just stand around you three! If a Shadow approaches us and catches us by surprise, we'll be in serious trouble,” Morgana deadpanned as they continued onward to the other side of the lobby. The four continued onward, traversing downward the spiraling staircase that once meant freedom for the group just yesterday. Now, this staircase would send them spiraling down for some answers.

“Whoa!” Mashiko pointed forward at the guard with a clear look of shock as the four of them hid behind the door, out of sight of the guard, “One of those guys are there!”

Ren gripped his knife tightly, “Well... Looks like we need to fight our way through then.”

“Yeah... I had a gut feeling...” Morgana frowned before giving Ren and Mashiko a grin, “Well then, guess we're going to go into the basics of battle. For amateurs, you guys know enough, but... I'm pretty smart when it comes to being a Phantom Thief myself...” Morgana gave the duo, and Ryuji, a catlike grin, “Now then, Ren... You'll need to ambush them from beind, rip off their mask, and they'll be too stunned to fight back.”

“Oh! It's like a first strike in a roleplaying game!” Mashiko happily said.

“...Don't know what that means, but I guess in your words, that's how it is,” Morgana looked over to Ren, “You got all of that?”

“Rip off their mask from behind to stun them,” Ren nodded before tightening his glove, preparing himself for the ambush, “Got it.” Ren put a finger up in front of Ryuji and Mashiko to silence them as the Shadow kept on walking. This was a tense situation, but as the knight looked around, his patrol route at an end, he turned around. There was a great grin on Ren's face, now bloodthirsty as he leapt onto the back of the knight's back. The Shadow took this action with great alarm.

“Hey, what are you-”

 _“Show me your true form!”_ The mask was ripped off as Ren stylishly leapt backward onto solid ground, a small dust cloud forming and then fading near the sole of his shoe. Mashiko and Morgana ran forward while Ryuji stayed safely behind. From the large suit of armor, a simple Pumpkin-Headed Monster, much like the one from before, appeared. It had a look of confusion on its face before glaring daggers at Ren.

In response, Ren just gave it an audacious smirk before running ahead, slicing a knife through its face. While the creature was distracted by Ren's attack, Mashiko ran around the creature, her shovel at the ready. As the Shadow began a counterattack, Mashiko hit it with her shovel, momentarily confusing it.

“Great! My turn now! Zorro!” Morgana exclaimed as wind started to swirl around their enemy. Like before, the creature couldn't handle it as it melted into a black sludge. For some reason, money began to appear from where it once was. Ren picked it up and tilt his head.

“Heh, you two are pretty good,” Morgana complimented.

“That's weird. Why do the Shadows have money?” Ren asked.

“Well, Shadows are nothing more than human's base thoughts. Don't humans tend bring around money with their pockets? So naturally, Shadows do so too,” Morgana explained to Ren.

Ryuji poked his head from the hiding place before taking a curious look around the prison cells. Confusion started to appear in his eyes as, unlike the day before, the prison cells were completely empty. Ugh, this didn't make any sense at all.

“Guys! The cells are empty!” Ryuji called out to the rest of the party.

“Careful! Your footsteps might attract Shadows!” Morgana ran up to Ryuji as the rest of the group followed behind Morgana, “And your loud voice would too.” He scanned the dungeon before settling on a pair of doors.

“Guys, we can talk in there,” Morgana told the rest of the group as they could hear the clattering of metal from the distance. Without anywhere else to go, the rest of them decided to obey Morgana's command—though Ren had to admit he was cautious. There was still a genuine chance that the soldiers would open the door and they would be cornered. With careful tread, he opened the door as he let the rest of the group go inside. As soon as the rest of the group were in, he closed the door, just as carefully as before.

“Can't deny your caution,” Morgana said, “But don't worry, the Shadows won't bother us here.”

“Eh? But, this is just another room?” Mashiko tilt her head in confusion as she spoke, “Wouldn't those Shadows just open the door and well...” Mashiko found herself pausing, trying not to imagine the worse case scenario.

“Heh. Take a look around,” Morgana spread his paw around the room as it slowly turned back into a classroom to everyone's surprise, “Basically, in this room, the ruler's control over this area is weak. I'm betting in your world, this room is a classroom, right?”

“I guess so,” Ren admitted as he sat down on a chair, “Didn't have enough time to look around my school after all. Everyone thinks I'm some sort of delinquent.”

Mashiko followed Ren's lead as she just leaned against the chair with an exhausted look on her face, “Aaaaaah, good thing we're safe here then!”

“Ugh... I sorta get it, but it's still effing confusing,” Ryuji admitted to the rest of the group, “So... This place is...how Kamoshida sees the school... Like a castle.”

“Yup. I like to call a place like this a Palace,” Morgana explained.

“Ugh, that son of a bitch!” Ryuji exclaimed before looking over to Morgana, “This guy just imagines our school to be just like a castle then! This is bullshit!”

Mashiko looked at Ryuji with concern in her eyes. She never really talked to Ryuji that often before all of this. In fact, last she remembered, Ryuji was just meant to be on track for a track-and-field scholarship, but then _something_ had happened when Kamoshida decided to take over for the track-and-field team. At certain point, Ryuji had quit the track-and-field team, started to dye his hair blond, and walk with a limp. Rumors had spread that Ryuji had assaulted Kamoshida, Kamoshida citing self-defense.

“They...have to be related...” Mashiko muttered to herself.

“...Yeesh, you must really hate this Kamoshida guy,” Morgana muttered to himself.

“Tch, hate doesn't even _begin_ to cover how I feel about him,” Ryuji snarled, “All that this asshole does is rag on other people while praising his goddamn volleyball team to high heaven!”

“I mean, he mostly...harasses me whenever I'm late to school,” Mashiko admitted, a look on awkwardness appearing on her face, “But... He just annoys me.”

“Yeah. He's garbage to you, but shitty overall,” Ryuji explained to them before leaning against the wall, “And to find out that this is how he sees everything? Ugh!”

As Ryuji stewed in his own rage, Mashiko and Ren looked at their clothes once more. Throughout this entire time, Ren hadn't changed back to his school uniform once. This was probably a good sign, a school uniform could have spelled trouble for him. Meanwhile, Mashiko was still admiring her outfit, recalling in nostalgia her life as Katarina Claes.

“There's a reason we're wearing this, right?” Ren asked Morgana.

“Huh? Oh yeah!” Morgana exclaimed, “It's because of this world.”

Mashiko tilt her head, “Um... What do you mean?”

“Basically, things tend to distort according to how a ruler sees something within his Palace. In order to prevent such distortions, one must hold a powerful will of rebellion. How both of you guys look is meant to be the image of rebellion you both hold from within.”

“So... That's why I look like Katarina Claes in world. I was a villainess in Fortune Lover, so honestly speaking, I'd probably look more like Katarina here.”

“And I look like a hella fancy thief... Then again, I did grow up with _Lupin the Third_ and the _Arsene Lupin_ books...” Ren muttered to himself before looking at Mashiko, “That's what drew me to the _Devilish Count_ series.”

“Eh?” Mashiko said in surprise, “No way!”   
“But it wasn't really my style, so I dropped it,” Ren shrugged.

Mashiko's face fell as she heard those words come out of Ren's mouth. She was seriously hoping that she could have a conversation about an anime series, and before all of this had happened, book series, with someone who wasn't A-chan, but at the moment, such a dream was now going to be an impossibility.

“Well, what about you?” Ryuji said, “Why do you look like that? Who even are you anyways?”

“I'm a human! An honest-to-god human!”

Ren stared at Morgana and then himself. One looked like an anthropomorphic cat and the other looked like a normal human. Clearly, there was a mistake.

“...I don't...get it,” Ren said.

“Uh... Morgana-chan, are you sure you're not a cat?” Mashiko asked him.

“Well... That's because... I lost my true form,” Morgana shamefully admitted, “...I think.”

Ryuji gave Morgana a deadpan look as he crossed his arms, leaning back into the wall, “You think?” There was no effing way that this cat was a human. Maybe it was a dream or something completely insane. Yeah, maybe this cat was just totally confused.

“Don't worry! I know how to get my true form back! That's why I've been sneaking around this Palace. I've been investigating how I could start...before I had gotten caught,” Morgana admitted, shame present in his eyes, “That's why I've got a problem with Kamoshida. He basically tortured me...”

“Don't worry Morgana-chan! We'll do everything we can to get back your original form!” Mashiko happily said. Morgana's eyes lit up once Mashiko had said that, confirming that yes, Morgana was _extremely_ happy that someone had believed him.

“Honestly, this feels more like a dumb manga to me,” Ryuji admitted.

As the conversation changed subjects, Ren knelt down, his ears pressed against the door. He could hear the guards talking about their current infiltration and, wait, did they say that the prisoners were at the training hall? That peaked his interest. He looked back toward the group with a serious look on his face.

“They said that the prisoners were transferred to the training hall. Anything else we should go over before we move on?”

“Actually! Before we begin, I got something for you guys... Though, Uchida-senpai, since this was on short notice, I had to grab something from around the house...” Ryuji put a gun on the table as well as, what appeared to be, a grey American NES Zapper. The gun _clearly_ got the attention of everyone in the room, but the NES Zapper on the other hand? Not much. Though, it _did_ peak Mashiko's curiosity.

“Don't worry, that one's a model gun. It only makes sense,” Ryuji said, “Though, that Beam Gun thing, or as I think they call it, an 'NES Zapper' was something I bought on the Internet! Not really useful to me anymore though. After all, I'm not an American and I kinda outgrew it.”

“Oh yeah, real useful,” Morgana deadpanned, “They're both toys!”

“I mean, the gun looks totally real! We can totally use it to fake them out! Meanwhile, we could...probably use the Beam Gun to... I dunno, freak them out? Make them think it's an actual gun?”

“Ugh... Whatever...” Morgana rolled his eyes before a thought came to his head. As Ren grabbed the model gun and Mashiko grabbed the NES Zapper, they both looked over their choice of weapon. Mashiko had some nostalgia for gaming back in the day, though those games were rather simple. Nowadays, she enjoyed playing games like _Fortune Lover_ on her PlayStation 4, but hey, holding an NES Zapper was part of gaming history. That was cool!

The party opened the doors right after the guards had all decided to continue their patrol, leaving their current spots right in front of the safe room, much to the relief of everyone.

“You said that they're in the training hall, right?” Morgana asked Ren, who had nodded in response, “Alright then. The training hall is further ahead of us, you guys ready?”   
“We're all rested up! Let's go then!” Mashiko exclaimed, running ahead of them before stopping in her tracks with an expression of shock on her face as she hit behind a box. She motioned over to her allies as she hid behind a box, everyone else followed her as they poked their heads out from their hiding spot

“Looks like there's a guard there... Wait, you guys,” Morgana's eyes started to shine. “I have an idea. Ren, Lady Mashiko, you guys still have those guns?”

“Eh? What do you mean? They're just toys!” Ryuji exclaimed.

“Hehe... Trust me on this,” Morgana nodded to both Ren and Mashiko, their eyes falling onto the weapons in their hands. Mashiko was incredibly nervous. Using her shovel seemed to be a much smarter choice than simply using a _literal_ toy gun. However, if what Morgana had said was true, maybe this would work. Meanwhile, Ren, taking the initiative, jumped on the back of the guard before pulling off their mask, revealing to the group a fairy-like creature and a creature that looked quite similar to a plant on two legs.

Ren pulled up his gun, holding the weapon with caution gleaming in his eyes. He had never touched a gun before. Guns weren't exactly his type of weaponry, in fact, guns were _outlawed_ in Japan except by police officers. Would this thing even work? However, Morgana seemed confident enough. Once more putting on a cool look on his face, he pulled the trigger.

_Bam!_

A bullet went soaring through the air right into the fairy-like creature, making it fall onto the ground with a dazed look on her face. Ren stared back at the gun with clear confusion on his face.

“...Wait, what?” Ren deadpanned, “Why...did this shoot bullets?”

Mashiko pointed her own weapon at the pumpkin-headed creature as she saw a flash of light get sent out hurtling toward plant. It didn't knock the creature down, but it was as clear as day that it had done some form of damage on the creature.

“It...hurt them...”

“Of course it did! This is a world based on cognition after all! And if I had to guess, those weapons are meant to emulate real damage to certain individuals, even if they are fictional like in the case of Lady Mashiko!” Morgana said as he pulled out his slingshot, “And now it's my turn!” Pulling back the rubber, Morgana shot out a pellet toward the fairy, finishing it off. Joker's eyebrow rose from behind his mask.

“And how are _you_ able to shoot them down?”

Morgana just gave Ren a smile. “I'm just that talented. Now then, let's take down the Jack O'Lantern!” With their respective guns, they began to shoot down the Jack O'Lantern until it faded into a dark mist. Everyone looked over to Morgana after that with a shocked expression upon their faces. Their guns, both of them being toy guns and hell, Mashiko's gun was only meant for video-games in the West were able to be used as actual weapons.

“Hehe, see?”

Ren looked at the gun in his hand. It still felt light to be honest. He pointed it at the ground, completely and utterly in shock that a bullet came out of it.

“Ugh... I don't get any of this shit, but I'm guessing that they think it's a gun and they imagine that it's important or something?” Ryuji asked the two of them as he approached the two from his hiding spot.

“Hey, you might be a dumb monkey, but you got it!” Morgana complimented. He then looked at the rest of the group. “Alright, we'll continue onward. And don't worry, after every battle, our ammo will be replenished, but we only have limited set per battle so remember that!”

Both Ren and Mashiko nodded in agreement as they continued deeper into the castle, taking down Shadows before reaching a room called “Kamoshida's Training Hall of Love.” Ryuji immediately growled at it.

“Kamoshida's... Training Hall... Of Love? You can't be serious...”

Mashiko just shook her head, she honestly doubted the Kamoshida was capable of any love. As she went to approach it, she couldn't shake this odd feeling. The feeling that something terrible would happen as soon as she opened up this door. However, this was more important at the moment. As she opened the door, and as the rest of the group came inside, they were greeted to a new and shocking horror. Everyone could hear the screams of pain from within the dungeon.

Mashiko eyed a group of knights whipping four of the volleyball students, Ryuji could only watch as volleyball students were running on a conveyor belt away from a spiked pillar, their hoarse voices crying out for water, and Ren could barely make out a cannon shooting out volleyballs at a helpless student like he was a target. All of them felt anger, disgust and helplessness at this madness. That was when Ryuji did something foolish.

“Damn it! This is bullshit!” Ryuji exclaimed as he looked over to Mashiko, “Uchida-senpai, help me get these guys out!”

Mashiko gave her underclassman a nod as she ran over and tackled down the bars. “Right!”

“Wait what!?” Morgana looked at the two of them, “What are you two doing?”

“Ain't it obvious? We're freeing them!” Ryuji told Morgana before looking at Mashiko. “Think you can figure this thing out?”

Mashiko kept her eyes scanning the prison cell. Maybe, just maybe if she were to climb through the prison bars, she could get these guys free! Yes, that made sense! Despite the cries of the students to keep them inside the cages, she decided to instead listen to her heart. She had to free them, right?

She could barely make out the images of the students, staring at them with some recognition.

“Wait a moment, they're part of the volleyball team here,” Mashiko pointed out, “How are they in this castle?”

Ren looked at the figures in the castle and frowned. An idea started to pop in his head before looking toward Morgana.

“Morgana, I think I know what's going on... These guys aren't real, right?”

Ryuji's eyes widened as he looked over to Ren, “What? What do you mean?”

“He's right actually,” Morgana complimented, “These guys aren't real. They're like dolls. They're basically how Kamoshida sees these students and the castle.”

Mashiko looked down, her face still curled up in confusion, but she was started to understand everything about this situation. However, there was a thought in the back of her mind. Where were the female volleyball players?

“So the school's a castle, and the students are slaves... It's so on point that it makes me laugh. This really is the inside of the asshole's head!” Ryuji snorted out.

Ren looked back at the jail cells with a frown, “...I'm guessing this is how Kamoshida treats these guys in the real world too, huh?”

Morgana simply nodded in agreement.

Mashiko looked over to Ryuji, “Ryuji-san... I...”

“...If they're basically the same as in the real world too... Then...” Ryuji took out his phone, “I think I know these guys. Damn, I bet Kamoshida beats on them everyday. Well... I got a plan.” Ryuji said as he took out his phone. “I'll take pictures of them and-” He stared down at his phone in confusion. He had just opened up the camera app and there was absolutely nothing. It wasn't working.

“The hell? Hey, you guys... My phone's not working?”

Both Mashiko and Ren took out their phones as well, confused by the fact that none of the apps on their phones were working other than the strange app that had appeared on their phones awhile back.

“Damn it!” Ryuji looked toward the jail cell, “Whatever! I'll just memorize their faces.” Ryuji ran past, well more like sprinted across the jail cells, looking at the bars covering the tortured students as both Ren and Mashiko stayed behind.

Ren looked over to Mashiko, “...You had any ideas in your head?”

Mashiko shook her head, “...I don't think so... Honestly, it's kinda weird? Like... These guys are all dudes, right? So, where's the women in this?”

Ren frowned, rubbing his chin. Mashiko was right, where _were_ the women in the jail cells? From what he heard, this school had a men's volleyball team and a women's volleyball team. However, it appeared only the men were here. He looked over to Mashiko and a dark thought crossed his mind, remembering how they had called Mashiko a “concubine.” It couldn't be. It just couldn't!

Ren just looked forward as he saw Ryuji come back to the rest of the group.

“You got all you needed?” Ren asked him.

Ryuji nodded, “Yeah. Let's go.”

“Yeah... This place is like...super creepy and stuff.”

“Finally,” Morgana commented, “I hope we can get out safe...”

\---

To many people, safe is a relative term. The group of students and the “not-cat” were running up the stairs, trying to hide away from the knights patrolling the area. They were not safe, but they were currently unharmed. As they approached the stairs, Morgana called out to them.

“We're almost there!” Morgana told them.

“Finally...” Ryuji muttered out.

“Famous last words,” Ren quietly said as they tried to cross the room.

The exit was just out of reach, they simply had to cross the room with the “glorious painting” of Kamoshida. However, as many people think, safe is a relative term. Why? For in the same room, Kamoshida's strange self was standing, surrounded by knights. He gave the group a disdainful look and yet, it was still just as smug as he had always been. A smug look that the three humans hated most of all.

“Well, well, well... Looks like the damn knaves are back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, genuinely want to apologize for really the huge delay between chapters. This has been a genuinely rough year for almost everyone from COVID to the election. For me personally, I have multiple reasons for this delay and I will be frank, it wasn't easy to put this chapter out, even though I had it finished for the majority of this year. In fact, I'm still trying to get my head in the game pertaining to this fanfiction even though I honestly adore writing this fanfiction. Hopefully, the next chapter will come out sooner than later, hopefully sooner. I just need to reacquaint myself with the original products. 
> 
> If anyone wants updates on the progress of my fanfictions, here is my Twitter account: https://twitter.com/altosax713. I also intend on uploading these chapters to Spacebattles as well. I wish everyone luck for the rest of the year and to everyone, wash your hands and wear a mask. Please.


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